Protecting a star
by EvelynSkye888
Summary: An accident took her away, leaving him alone for so long, now he has a chance to protect her as she is being threatened. But is she still the same? A lot can change in ten years, but his feelings can't, and seeing her again after so long does not help in the slightest. Can he help her remember? Does she want to? Only time will tell...
1. Chapter 1, An unexpected meeting

**Chapter 1, An unexpected meeting**

I entered the house via the back door as I usually did when I came home from school. Throwing my backpack in the corner of the grand hallway and tossing my coat over the chesterfield that was right next to it. "Mom, I'm home. Have you heard from Jake? He hasn't called me back yet, I want to make sure the interview is still happening" I screamed towards the living room as I made my way into the kitchen.

When we bought the house using the money I had made off my first album I knew my mom would finally get to see her biggest dream come true. The house or mansion, depending on one's interpretation had one of those old farm like kitchens. A large stove, cupboards, loads of space and all off those antique finishes.

When viewing the house I knew my mom was sold the moment she stepped into the space and saw the kitchen, the garden was only a plus and the rest, well I chalked it up to history as it didn't matter anymore. A month later we were the proud inhabitants of Lake manor, the old grand mansion in the middle of a small town called Lakeview.

Pulling the fridge door I found my favorite smoothie without even looking for it, while shaking the bottle I walked towards the living room. "Mom you want me to do some grocery shopping tomorrow, we are low on…" I dropped the bottle.

In the corner, by the window stood a man, tall and muscular cloaked in black. His three piece suit accentuated his slender yet strong body, his back broad and hair black as night. The stranger turned around upon hearing me enter the room while my mom was sitting on the chesterfield couch opposite of the fireplace.

I leaped towards her completely ignoring the spilled juice on the carpet. "Get the hell away from my mom!" I screamed towards the man, my voice resembled exactly what I felt inside, anger laced with fear.

This man's face had two long scars running from his right eyebrow just above his eye, this impossible emerald green set of eyes, pulling further across his nose to the side of his upper lip. He already looked like a deadly hunter in his sharp suit but his face, god his face frightened me of what he was capable of.

His facial expression shifted from shocked to one of pure curiosity, cocking his head slightly to the left as if it would help him decipher what I was thinking.

Somewhere during this stare down between us my mom had jumped to her feet and was now trying to pull me around so that I would face her. "What are you doing here? What do you want?" I yelled at the stranger still sheltering my mom behind my body. He took a step forward towards me which made me pull out my pocket knife in a reflex motion.

"Liliana will you stop this at once! I invited Erik, he is my guest!" my mom yelled from somewhere behind me. _Huh?_ I turned around slightly just enough to see my mom from the corner of my eye, while still keeping sight on the stranger. My mom was looking at me with a look of anger and despair as if she was disappointed in the person that I had just turned into. Shocked I glanced back and forth between him and my mom, contemplating what to do next.

My mom grabbed my hands "Liliana it's alright, I'm fine, Erik is not a threat to us. He is quite the opposite" she smiled into his direction. I glared at him and then back to my mom, _oh no she didn't, no oh hell no!_ Erik was still standing in the same corner by the window, a half smile on his lips, still staring at me with those curious green eyes.

Sighing my mom told me: "I hired Erik, for you. I want you to be safe Liliana" I wasn't sure if I wanted to clip my pocket knife so soon, I told her so many times, no puppy dog following me, I did not want to hear anything about it! "Mom…" I took a deep breath, _don't get worked up Liliana, keep calm, don't lose it while he is watching._

"Mom I do not have a need for protection, I told you so many times I…" and that was when he spoke "I do believe your mother has a valid point in keeping you safe Liliana" His voice soft, warm, with this lingering predator sound underneath. I sucked in a breath, that voice, I knew that voice….. "Liliana, Erik will be with you from now on, for your own protection, for as long as necessary" somewhere far away my mom was telling me something, but I was still focusing on Erik, did I know him, _had we met before? I couldn't let go of this feeling, maybe I was going crazy from all the stress….. And what exactly did mom just say? He is staying with me?! Oh no, hell to the no, no way!_

Erik was still watching me closely, trying to figure out what I was thinking. While my mom was now practically yanking my arms to get my attention, that's when it hit me, like lightening hitting my brain. Like someone stabbing me above my right eye, I grabbed the couch to keep myself from toppling over. "Liliana are you alright? Liliana?" Somewhere from miles away my mom was yelling to me, I saw Erik walking towards me, the pain intensifying with every second passing.

I tried to walk towards the door. "I'm fine mom, just need some water or air….." I murmured while clutching the door, the room was too bright, too many colors, they were hurting my eyes. I saw the floor coming closer quickly and I knew I was falling. Bracing myself for impact the last thing going through my mind was _don't let the fop catch me in his arms, don't he dare try to be a hero I will personally punch him…_ and then nothing, darkness, covering me like a blanket.

* * *

Seeing her after all these years….. he had never felt like this before or well he had but he had never told her, nor had he ever even spoken about it. She was still, no… even more beautiful than he could remember, her thick caramel brown hair flowing from her shoulders, framing her pale yet rosy face. Blue fierce eyes, piercing your soul, searching for your thoughts, trying to dissect you piece by piece. She was still wearing jeans with a blouse and a sweater, just like eight years ago.

She hadn't changed a bit, which made his heart flare up even more, how he wanted to tell her that it was him, he was here and she didn't have to worry about a thing. But her reaction to seeing him had shocked him, he had frightened her, something he had never done before, something he had never wanted to do.

Yet somehow he did understand her reaction, her mother had told him over the phone why she wanted to hire him as Liliana's personal bodyguard. She had explained what had been happening, the threats, the stalking and the weird gifts. How protective Liliana had been towards her over the last couple of weeks as the frequency of the events increased.

Her health was affected by it, as he had witnessed right in front of his eyes. As she did when they were younger she would try and make it look like it was nothing but she had gasped for air, trying to stay upright muttering that she was fine. Staggering away as to not alarm everyone in the room, but that was just the thing, she was not fine the accident had done its damage and he knew, he knew the damage it had done and he hated it.

It had taken her far away, to foreign countries, private hospitals and special treatments. She had fully recovered from all her wounds, but the damage it had done to her brain was permanent. Stress, nerves and her well not short, but easily flared temper had created a push and pull rhythm. As she would stress out her head would cry out for a break through breathtaking headaches and fainting spells.

The scene played before him had only shown that the accident still lingered around her, she was just too stubborn to accept help while enduring it. She had glared at him angrily when he tried to come close to help her, but she could not stop him from catching her. As he saw her grasp the door and miss he jumped forward, like a large cat catching his prey he had gripped her body tight with his arms and stopped her from crashing into the ground, pulling her close to him.

As though he wanted to pull her in, merge with her. Her body slumped against his, her head lying in the nape of his neck, her arm dangling in the air. He felt her soft, warm breath against his neck, that alone sent ripples through his skin. Her hair still smelled of the rose shampoo she used, it brought back so many memories. "You saved her, thank goodness….. you don't want to know how many bruises she gets from falling".

I snapped back to reality, Anna was standing next to me, "Follow me, I will call Raoul to check her" dumbstruck I followed her out of the room "Who is Raoul Mrs Daemon?" I held onto Liliana like she was made from glass, while we started ascending the main grand staircase. "Raoul is Liliana's personal trainer and her personal well you could say doctor." Anna smiled at me, _why would Liliana need a personal trainer? She has never been anything but fit._

Anna opened one of the many doors that aligned the hallway of the main upstairs hallway. I could not see much, but I heard her telling someone that he was needed immediately. Next thing I know a tall, blond, muscular guy steps out of the room following Anna. "Ey mate, sorry to meet under these circumstances. I'm Raoul" I looked at him in a pained and puzzled way, _could Liliana be….. with him? Where they together?_ I simply nodded, the sound of a phone interrupted the awkward silence between us.

"That must be Jake, Raoul can you…" Anna said while taking out her phone. "I am sorry Erik but I must discuss some important performance criteria with Liliana's manager" She gave me a sheepish smile and turned around and started walking towards the other end of the hallway. _A manager? What was I missing? First this trainer guy and now a manager? What had happened in this family?_

Liliana sighed against my chest, moving her head slightly. My head shot down to check if she had regained consciousness but she was still out, looking so peaceful, like she was sleeping and nothing had happened at all. "Trust me mate, lately it takes her a good 15 minutes to come back again" Raoul turned around and gestured for me to follow "We'll take her to her room, she can use some sleep if you ask me, if only she would listen and actually took some sometime" he was shaking his head.

"I am sorry for asking, but why does she have you? And this managers, I must have missed something but what exactly is happening here?" My curiosity had taken over, I tried to piece together the information that I had but nothing made sense, _Liliana was just a student, she has no need for all this._

Raoul turned around in a split second, he looked at me as if I had just missed the biggest clue for a murder investigation. "Mate….. what exactly do you know about her? I mean they must have told you that, in here" he gestured me to enter as he swung open the last door of the long hallway.

The door opened a portal into another world, a world made of books, a grand piano, candles, a cozy fireplace and heaps of pillows on two chesterfields. A large desk stood in one corner, while mahogany book cases covered the walls from floor to ceiling, the back side of the room was almost completely made of glass, showing a large patio and garden. A large round bed with satin blankets stood directly in front of the glass with one side covered in books, which still left heaps of room for a person to sleep.

The room practically breathed Liliana, from the choice of books, to the fireplace, the massive desk and the large round bed. I approached the bed and slowly lowered her down on the covers, Raoul approached with what looked like a doctors bag and began with taking her pulse. I could only stare at her features, wondering what mystery was surrounding her I started up the conversation again with Raoul.

"So…. You were about to tell me something about her" I hinted towards Raoul. "Oh yeah mate, give me a sec. Her vitals look and sound alright to me" He shoved his stethoscope into his bag. Moving towards the bookcase closest to the bed he tugged on one of the books, to my surprise it set in motion a movement within the book cases, pulling in two rows which both moved to the side to show a hollow space behind them.

 _Why does she have secret compartments in her room?_ Raoul looked at me awaiting my reaction, "Oh mate they really kept you in the dark didn't they…" He motioned for me to look inside the bookcases. Bright lights reflected something sparkly within the bookcases, like a hidden treasure had just been unearthed and was now soaking up its first sun rays in years. Within the hollow space jewels, so many jewels sparkled brightly, illuminating the small place with specs of color. But when my eyes got hold of the four masks that were displayed in the middle my jaw dropped to the floor. "Oh yes mate does are them, the real ones…. she is….."

But he could not finish his sentence as a voice shot out from beside them: "Raoul NO!"

* * *

I recognized my own bed sheets, the smell of my many books and my rose perfume lingering in the air of my room. My head was still pounding like crazy and I remembered what had happened, so this Erik guy was here to stay… I sighed, "click" my mind shot to the here and now. I could recognize that sound from miles away, it came from the unlocking of my secret bookcase, panic shot through my body, who was looking into my stuff! "Oh yes mate, does are them, the real ones…" _Raoul!_ who was Raoul talking to? It better not be that Erik guy, or he was guaranteed dead meat.

I pushed myself up with my elbows, I almost fainted at the sight of them staring into the secret compartment. Raoul was mid-sentence revealing who I was, but that's when I shouted as loud as I could: "Raoul NO" Both of them turned as if bitten by snakes, Erik was looking at me as if I had a deadly decease. I knew right away, _He knew, he had seen them, he had made the connection._ I fell back on the mattress, this had created a whole other level of problems…

* * *

 _She was, my lord she…._ He could not believe it. The whole world was talking about her, the most popular, fastest rising star that was around nowadays. Even I knew about her, her identity was the biggest mystery nowadays and was all over the news, the media platforms, lord everybody was trying to figure out who she was. There were conspiracy theories dedicated to her, people all over the world made it their life's work to figure out who this mysterious person was.

And she was right here, his little Liliana… Dumbfounded he was still staring at the masks. Christine Daemon was Liliana, it didn't make sense. Liliana was Christine… He could not fathom the fact that shy little Liliana was the world's biggest superstar, it was simply not possible.

"Raoul….. when I get out of this bed I am going to kick your ass so hard." It was not more than a whisper but it was the sort of short tempered humor only one person on this planet could have. Although she was still trying to get up she was glaring at him, while simultaneously shooting daggers at Raoul.

He tore himself loose from the sparkling masks and moved away from his position in front of the bookcase and walked over to the bed where he bent down to on one knee and offered Liliana his hand. She did not take it at first, glaring up at him with a mixture of anxiety and anger. Then she huffed an accepted his hand putting her tiny porcelain colored hand in his. Throwing her legs over the side of the bed she wanted to stand up, but she did it too quickly.

Slumping against him, she reached for his arm with both hands to prevent herself from falling. But he was quicker, his arms shot out to envelope her, keeping her up straight, closing the space between them. Shocked her head shot up looking up to him, his eyes stared into her starry blue one's, counting each eyelash, all the lights that got reflected by her eyes. "Thanks" she whispered softly, without breaking their eye contact. He saw a flicker of curiosity in her eyes, but it disappeared, and a concerned yet angry look took over.

"We need to talk" she said with a stern, yet still unsteady voice. "Raoul!" She freed herself of my arms, and I quickly let them fall, in that short moment Raoul had fled the room escaping Liliana's anger. Somewhere down the hall I heard him laugh "Your mom hired him, so better give him a head start!" Liliana huffed again, I however was dumb struck once more, It had not yet really reached me but he had a point, I was going to protect not only Liliana, I was going to protect the biggest star that was currently walking the earth.

Although she didn't look anything like it at the moment with her caramel hair fuzzy from the sheets, a slight patch of color returning to her cheeks making her look less ghost like. "You know staring is not very polite" her voice rang through the room while she moved over to the fireplace and started poking up the fire.

In my daydreaming I had mindlessly stared at her, still not accepting the fact that she was, well… who she was. "So you… you are famous" _Great observation Erik, you idiot_. I wanted to smack myself in the face. She got up and turned to face me. "Yeah, I guess you could say that" She gave me a faint half smile while taking a seat on one of the couches, motioning for me to take a seat. I moved over quickly and unbuttoned my jacket, she was still pale but looking alert as if she was weighing out all the options that she had.

"I need to get this out of the way" she said with a sigh "Did you sign a confidentiality agreement when my mom hired you?" She looked anxious while saying this, afraid even. I replied her curtly "Yes, I did. But please believe me in this, you can trust me, I would never tell anyone, anything" She relaxed a little upon hearing this, her shoulders slumped a little. "I do believe I owe you an apology, an explanation and a thank you" she said while sighing.

I looked at her funnily, _she had nothing to apologize for… She just had to remember me…_ "Thank you for not letting me crash into the floor" she chuckled "it is hard to cover up bruises all the time" she gave another little chuckle, then turning more serious "And I am sorry for the way I reacted, It has been… well… rather difficult lately" She looked down at her folded hands.

"I understand, you do not need to apologize" I spoke softly. Her blue eyes looked up from under her eyelashes, she looked so small, so fragile that way. "I am still against you staying here, my mom, I mean Anne, she apparently believes that I need protection against these threats. I believe that it is nothing and it will be over soon." She looked towards the window, as if she could escape through it towards another world. One without all these problems.

"I understand" I truly did, she didn't want someone around her all the time, invading her privacy, she had always been that way. She could survive on her own, besides she had always been fine with being alone. Her head shot back to look at me, she gave me a puzzled look. "I don't think you could understand Erik"

My name rolling of her lips was something I had missed way too much, but it hurt when she said it like that, when she could not remember me, treating me like any other stranger. "But that doesn't matter now" she wiped away the topic. "What are you supposed to do as my… well how would one call your function, a personal bodyguard? Besides the obvious of course. What is expected of me? Are there things I should know or look out for?" I could tell that she really was not happy with me being around.

"I will be like your shadow" It was the standard answer I had given to most of my clients. "I do hope my shadow does not intend to follow me exactly everywhere" She was smiling now, _she is joking with me!_ I felt my face turn red. "No off course not. I will be close enough to protect you from any threats that is all" She nodded, "I will make sure Jake sends you a list of the people that we work with, the locations and that you are granted access to the schedule that is set up for Christine" It was funny the way she spoke, serious and straightforward, yet still you could hear how young she was and her third person use for Christine sounded like she was talking about her twin sister the pop star.

She was staring at me know. "Is something wrong?" As though I caught her red handed she turned her head towards the fire, blushing slightly. Raising herself from the couch she walked over to stand in front of it, staring into the flames as though they would give her the answers that she needed. "I just have this feeling…" she turned towards me again "Have we ever met, before you… well before this encounter" she looked at me intimately. _Should I, I want you to remember me, so, so badly…should I tell you… no… no, I shouldn't mingle with her mind… if she does not remember… "_ No, I do not believe so _"_ I said with an ache piercing my heart.

She looked at her feet again "I must be going mad" she whispered to herself, probably thinking I could not hear her.

* * *

I simply could not shake the feeling that we had met before, staring at him trying to decipher where and when I could have seen him he suddenly stood up. "Shall I leave you for now? You probably would like to take a rest, I can probably make myself useful somewhere else" he said while looking at me. "No!" Dumbstruck by my own reaction I looked at him. Why had I just said no? Liliana what are you doing?

"I think it only fair as a repayment of your kindness that I should show you around the house, and we should assign you to a room, get you set up." I muttered partly to him and myself, trying to cover up the mistake of shouting no just know. "Alright, I accept" he said, nodding his head as if he gave a slight bow to me. "Well I guess it is obvious that this is my room" I smirked, as we exited my room and stood in the hallway.

"The door right next to mine is another bedroom it is connected to my, well, the shared bathroom of both rooms, it were the former connected bedrooms of the Lord and Lady of the house" I told Erik as I walked passed the door. I chuckled inside, he truly was behaving like my shadow walking one pace behind me to my left. Moving when I was moving, and stopping when I stopped.

While looking at him I had to admit to myself that he was handsome despite the scars that covered his face. And his choice of clothes, or rather designer could be complemented as well, his clothes where tailor made fitting him perfectly.

"I believe that the house must be old then, with architecture such as this" breaking up my thoughts, his voice rang up beside me. I turned slightly, "Yes, you are right" my voice betraying the interest that I had for the topic. "The house was build circa the late 1750, but the first occupants where not the Rose family though. A wealthy doctor took residence before them, he moved in right after the completion of the mansion. Funnily he never changed anything about the whole house, he even kept his wife's and the rooms of the children the same after they died, not even moved the furniture. When he died in 1821, Edmund Rose took residence here with his wife, that's where the whole rose theme that you can find back in different pieces of the house comes from. Apparently they were obsessed with how the house should reflect the family emblem. "

I shut my mouth shut, _Rambling again Liliana, you idiot, he doesn't care about all this._ "I'm sorry, I start rambling when I talk about topics that I have great interests for" I looked at my shoes as my cheeks turned red. "It's fascinating" My head shot up, Erik was looking at one of the portraits of the Rose family. When we had moved in I had asked my mom if she would mind if the portraits stayed exactly where they were, they were true pieces of art and I would have rather died than see them go.

"I'm sorry?" I blurted in surprise, as I didn't understand what he meant. He turned away from the portrait and looked at me "The house" he said "It's fascinating" I cocked my head, _was he mocking me?_ "The architecture, the tiny details, like these portraits, the roses engraved in the ceiling and the fixtures. They are everywhere, yet so delicate that they do not take over the room"

You could have heard my jaw drop on the floor. "You.. you are interested in architecture and… and history?" I stammered. He gave me a faint smile "I am not just a human shield if that's what you mean" he took a few steps to stand beside me. I swallowed "No! No that is not what I meant" I stammered looking up at him "It is just, well… Normally people don't really listen to me when, well they don't share you know my interest in… I'm usually ignored when talking about this sort of stuff" I practically swallowed the last words, I didn't know where to look, god how embarrassing…

"I was joking Liliana…" he laughed softly, a low but tinkling laugh that lingered in the air. My eyes shot up to his face, trying to size him up. _He was… joking…?_ He was joking with me, it was a joke. "I am sorry" he looked at me "I did not mean to offend you in any way" he was trying to see if I was upset. "Oh" I muttered "ha… haha…hahaha" I couldn't stop laughing. Now he was staring at me "I'm sorry that's hilarious, of course you are not just a human shield" I was still hiccupping and snorting with laughter. "Well I am glad I managed to make laugh" he said. _He probably thinks I am a total nut head…_ I took a deep breath and pulled myself together, I couldn't remember the last time I had laughed so much.

Maybe this Erik guy wasn't such a pain in the neck, I thought to myself…


	2. Chapter 2, Moving around with a Shadow

**Chapter 2, Moving around with a shadow.**

After I had led Erik through the house and the gardens we had sat down at the kitchen table. While I was making tea a question came to my mind; School... How was I going to explain this in school? "Erik?" He looked at me and I gave him a steaming mug. "Will you be following me in school too?" I asked while sliding into the chair that stood opposite of his. He nodded, my chest constricted and I sighed "So how do we explain your presence?"

"I wanted to tell everyone the truth" I sputtered as I chocked on my sip of tea and yelled at him "YOU WHAT?" staring at him in disbelief. He quickly handed me his handkerchief with a worried look on his face. I didn't accept at first, "The less lies we have to tell the easier it will be to keep them intact" still not accepting his handkerchief he lay it down in front of me on the table "If we tell everyone that your mom is being threatened, something in the lines of if you do not pay we will hurt your daughter, it will be close to the truth and explain my presence easily"

Stunned I looked at him, I snatched his handkerchief from the table and dabbed my face as always when it came to my alter ego I had over reacted. I lowered my head in shame "Sorry..." my cheeks reddened, he must think I am mad. "I understand Liliana, it's alright" I dared to look up at him and saw a face of compassion. I simply nodded, holding up the handkerchief I said "I'll wash this" as I tucked it in my jeans pocket. "You don't.." but I cut him short "I will" and stood up, grabbing my mug "I guess you would like to move in your stuff, so which room would you like?"

He looked apologetically as he started rambling "I... I know you don't like this but I need to be as close to you as possible, any room you can spare that is closest to yours..." I blushed, I understood as he had probably observed the Lords room was closest to mine, so he had to stay in there... "The Lords room is yours, you can use the bathroom that is connected" He looked at me in a puzzled way. _Damn! That's my bathroom!_ I blushed even harder "But that's yours? "he said, I felt trapped "Yes, however I just realized the closest one besides mine would be my moms and I'd rather have you share mine than hers, I don't want her to feel any more uncomfortable due to this situation than necessary" He nodded "I understand" I was ready to kick myself. "I'll leave you to unpack" and I made my way to the door "Actually I will need to drive back to my apartment and pick up my things" I turned around "Ok, I will try not to get killed in the meantime" as I made a quotation move with one hand.

He gave me a look "Please don't joke about that... Can you please stay in the house until I return? It will take me no more than two hours" _Sure mister shadow_ but I simply nodded, I had work to do, a melody had been stuck in my mind for a couple of days now and I to put it on paper before I would forget. So I made my way out of the kitchen and up the stairs, sitting down at my piano as I took a deep breath and started tinkering away.

* * *

I took me about an hour and a half to perfect the melody, the process had given me quite a head ache as I had gotten stuck on what would probably be the bridge part. However, as usual when a melody flooded my system the lyrics would never be far behind, so as I played the melody I started to sing what came to mind.

I hear the ticking of the clock

I'm lying here the room's pitch dark

I wonder where you are tonight

No answer on the telephone

And the night goes by so very slow

Oh I hope that it won't end though

Alone

I quickly scrabbled the lyrics down onto the music sheets I had used, and as I sang it again and again I created the song piece by piece. It wasn't long or extremely well composed as it still had parts I doubted, but I liked it. I had just finished a book about a student falling in love with a teacher and the song was based on how she felt, after she realized that how she felt, what she felt was impossible, it could never become reality. So in her state of mind she lived out their love life in her head, imagining what it would be like. As I tinkered along on the piano for another half hour I felt like the song was complete, and I wanted to record it so that if I had made the decision of including it in my repertoire Max, my sound guy, could help me with the touching up on the melody and tone levels.

I grabbed my voice recorder and pushed the record button, taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and poured my heart out into the song.

* * *

Raoul had led me into the house as I hadn't received a key yet, he saw me struggle with the bags and the suitcase that I was logging behind me, so he had offered to help me move some stuff. I had declined at first, I didn't like the guy as I had this feeling he and Liliana were close which made my blood boil "It's ok mate, let me help out" he'd said, so smiling I had handed him one of my bags, the heaviest one with my books. Can't help not liking the guy...

I had asked where Liliana was while we had walked up the stairs but I had no need for a reply as the moment I asked the question music came pouring down the hallway, filling the house with a chilling, sad melody. Raoul had simply nodded into the direction where the music had come from, a confirmation I had not needed.

Quickly dropping my bags in the Lords room, detesting the fact that I had to thank Raoul for helping me, I had sneaked towards her door and was elated when I saw it wasn't fully closed. Giving me a perfect sight of Liliana's figure hunched over the piano keys playing and singing, it was beautiful yet painful as she sang about being alone. She sang it with so much emotion that it almost hurt to listen to her, she was singing the song in a way that made you almost feel the pain yourself.

When the song came to an end she opened her eyes, sighed and pressed a button on what I thought was a recorder. "That was beautiful" She jumped and turned around so quickly that her foot got stuck behind one of the piano stool legs and she and the stool fell over slamming into the floor. Cursing myself internally for startling her I sprinted towards where she was now lying, face first, on the floor.

* * *

As I finished the song I pressed the recorder to shut off the inflow, showing that the song lasted a little more than two and a half minutes. Which was like I had imagined a bit short but it still needed to be worked on. "That was beautiful" I jumped at the sound and tried to quickly turn around to see who had been spying on me.

My body however wasn't in line with my mind as I was still standing between the piano stool and the keys, so as I turned around my left foot got stuck behind one of the legs of the piano stool. Making me tumble forwards while I saw Erik stand in the doorway moving towards me as I smacked into the floor.

"Oawa" I mumbled as I tried to get up, "Liliana, are you alright!" he had sprinted towards me. Peering into my eyes, and checking me out for any damage. "I'm fine! Why where you spying on me!" but he simply ignored me and picked me up bride style, as I started protesting he called out Raoul's name and started walking towards the bed. "I'm fine, put me down!" I was only terribly embarrassed, as this was the second time I had gone flat out in front of him today. But he did not listen to me as he gently lay me down on the covers of my bed, still looking at me with a worried look on his face.

"What's wrong?!" A flustered Raoul was standing in the doorway, now I was getting pissed "I'm fine I just got spooked by Erik jumping out of nowhere, making me trip and fall on my face!" I yelled in an annoyed voice. Erik's face turned bright red at my accusation "She fell on the floor, hard" he said softly. Raoul walked over to my side of the bed, making Erik take a few steps back, watching intently from the side.

"Pain?" Raoul asked, which was his standard question. "Nope" I said plopping the P, _just my ego being shattered twice in a day_ "I mean it Lils, ankle? Knee? Head?" I gave him a sarcastic look, "I. AM. FINE..." I almost spelled it out. _God I hated being worried over, just let me be, I am fine!_ "Are you sure? You know you will have a concert tour in less than two weeks right?" I looked at Raoul one final time as I swung my legs over the side of the bed "I'm fine" I said dead serious and started walking towards my piano.

 _It better not be damaged because of that stupid stunt..._

* * *

Erik had tried to apologize half of dozen times over the last two hours, which finally drove me so mad that I had locked my door and grabbed my headphones on my way to my bed. Sitting down and playing my favorite tracks as I pulled out one of my school books and started reading and highlighting what I needed to learn for the next mid-term.

I got so lost in the songs and my book that by the time it had turned dark I was still reading. Apparently Erik had been knocking on my door for fifteen minutes, gave up and finally my mom or Raoul had provided him with a spare key and he had managed to open my door. Receiving an angry glare from me as he rapidly approached my bed with an anger stricken face, I figured he was mad because I had shut him out, so I reluctantly removed my headphones. "You cannot lock the door on me! I was calling your name for fifteen minutes! You could have been hurt, or gone!" He shouted in my face as I looked down at my book, he had stood there for fifteen minutes? I truly hadn't heard him, yet I had locked the door on purpose. "Liliana I am sorry for before, I had not meant to startle you, I should not have been watching you. I just heard your voice and..." I looked up at him "I wanted to listen, it was so beautiful" he mumbled.

"Well just don't" I snared as I tried to escape him by jumping of my bed "When I sing like that, I don't..." I looked at the floor, it was private, it was my only moment truly alone with the music, something I could but not had to share, the decision was up to me! Not anyone else! "It's my choice" I whispered and stormed out of the room. As I stormed down the stairs I decided that it would be a great time to go and work out in the basement.

When I had started to become more and more famous I had started working out more as it was a great means to relief some stress, which I always had in overflows. So when I had saved enough money I had ordered a full gym to be installed in the basement, everything that you could imagine, weights for Olympic lifting, rowers, bikes, treadmills I wanted to try out everything. Right about that time I had also hired Raoul, as I wanted someone in house for training, health, nutrition the full package.

So now there was locker room with a shower and a closet which contained everybody's workout clothes plus a full blown gym just forty steps from my room. I quickly changed and hit the treadmill blasting music through the sound system. I loved running although truly I preferred the weights over everything, it was a game of becoming stronger every time, trying to beat your former personal record.

After twenty minutes Raoul appeared at my side, grabbing the remote and lowering the sound level until he was able to talk to me. "Lils you need to give the guy a break, he is here to have your back, not to make your life a living hell" I stepped on the sides of the treadmill. Taking a few breaths "Raoul, I never asked for this!" he nodded "I know Lils, but do you like being Christine? Do you love to perform?" I sighed he always did this "Yes... yes to both" I reluctantly said. "Well, there is your answer you idiot" he said as he ruffled my hair. "I hate you" I said jokingly, while slapping away his hand.

"Simply reminding you about some important facts" he laughed as he avoided another punch from my right hand. "Just let him do his job Lils" I huffed but nodded, as I knew that unfortunately he was right, as usual.

After completing my run, and doing weights for an hour I decided to grab something to eat and study some more. I walked into the kitchen, snatched a protein bar from my always stocked stash and started my climb of the stairs. Avoiding Erik's room and walking into mine, munching on my last bite, it was now six o'clock and I knew mom would start 'cooking' soon 'which meant she would order food' so I stepped into the bathroom to take a quick shower. Stripping off my wet workout clothes and turning on the shower, stepping under the flow of warm water I felt my muscles relax. _sooooo gooood..._

I washed my hair and when I knew I could no longer avoid stepping out into the cold I turned off the water supply and quickly wrapped a towel around me. Shivering as indeed the bathroom was cold, I took another towel and started drying my hair. "Liliana?" Raoul's voice rang from my side of the bathroom "In here" I said "Just a moment" and I dropped both towels and slipped on my plush dark green robe. "What's up Raoul?" I said while throwing the door open stepping into my room. He handed me a tube, which looked like something medically.

I looked at him quizzically "What's this?" he chuckled "Against bags, I ordered it for you as lately you are looking like a corpse" I gave him a disapproving look "Geez thanks Raoul" he gave me his charming smile "no problem lils, you need it though, seriously" I knew he was right, lately my sleeping hours had been so poorly that I indeed looked like a corpse, nightmares about someone hurting my mom plagued my dreams, turning them in to blood chilling nightmares. Leaving me we sweated through pajamas and restless nights. "Oh and your mom said dinner is almost here" I laughed, we had no dinner is ready in our home, we had dinner is here. As we were simply either busy or busier than usual. So we ordered almost every meal, except breakfast which was easily made so we never ordered that, yet.

"Thanks" I told him as I wiggled the tube of cream in my hand as he made his way out of my room raising his hand like the guy in breakfast club and I chuckled.

After an awkward silent dinner, which my mom tried to liven up by asking Erik about his job, we all said goodnight and made our way to our rooms, which meant Erik gave me dibs on the bathroom so I quickly brushed my teeth and applied some of the stupid creme on my face before knocking on his door signaling that I was done.

Walking over to my bed I shook of my robe and curled up under the sheets setting my alarm for five in the morning as I would have an interview over the phone which I was not looking forward too.

* * *

Staring at my alarm clock I had seen all the numbers going on from 11 o'clock. It was now 2 in the morning. I've had enough, I could survive another day on two hours of sleep, I had done so for most of last week. Grabbing my headphones I put on a Nocturne by Chopin, sneaking out of my room on a hunt for the kitchen and some late night, correction early morning snacks. I knew there was still a tub of Ben and Jerry's in the fridge. Strangely I had always liked the combination of tea and ice cream, they perfectly offset each other.

As I made my way through the hall and into the kitchen I started rummaging through the drawers, successfully finding a spoon and a mug in one of the cupboards, putting on the kettle and making my way over to the fridge. Going through the drawers in search of the tub "Bingo" I whispered as I found it stashed behind some frozen fruit packages, ripping off the lid and scooping up a big spoon, which I almost dropped as I turned around. Wanting to check on the kettle I had almost ran into Erik's chest, letting out a yelp as I hadn't seen or heard him enter the kitchen.

He was wearing black satin pajama trousers, which to my astonishment looked really good on him, paired with a dark emerald green robe. I quickly looked away, removing my headphones and putting the spoon in the tub. "Did I wake you?" He sighed "No" I looked up "You were awake?" I could hardly believe that to be true. He gave me a small smile as he saw my doubt "You went to bed at nine, you woke up at eleven and you haven't slept since until you decided to grab your headphones and started a piano piece and you walked downstairs" My jaw hit the floor "how..." I was severely impressed and creeped out at the same time "I listen Liliana, it's my job" I sighed _of course mister shadow_ "so why can't you sleep? A craving for ice cream?" A beep came from the kettle and I moved over to pour my cup "tea?" I looked at him "Yes, please" he said. I grabbed another mug and poured him a cup too.

He accepted it and sat down at the kitchen table, as I still wanted to eat ice cream I felt the obligation to at least ask him if he wanted some too. "I uh, you want some too?" I pointed at the tub which he picked up and looked at. "your favorite" he mumbled softly, _did I hear that correctly..._ "Sorry?" I said with a tinge of nerves in my voice. He looked up "I said I had no apatite" he gave me a crooked smile. _So I had heard the wrong thing..._

"You avoided my question" he said while I slid down in the chair opposite of him "Liliana?" he peered into my eyes. "I was hungry" I lied giving him a hopefully genuine smile. He seemed to evaluate whether I was telling the truth or not "right, so this has never happened before?" _not before last week_ I popped in another spoon of ice cream while shaking my head, taking a sip of tea, such a good combo, I smiled.

"Liliana" I looked at him again "Please don't lie to me" my eyes widened, nobody saw through my lies! I was always able to dodge every question with interviews! I lied my way out of everything as Christine! "I'm not" I said shortly, suddenly loosing my own apatite and I put the lid back on the tub. "I am going back to bed" I stated before getting up and moving over to the fridge, putting back the tub where I had found it. Intentionally moving some stuff in front of it, hoping that Raoul would not find it that way.

And for the second time that night I yelped as Erik had, without making a sound again, _I had to figure out how he does that_ , moved behind me and was now luring over me. I wasn't scared of him in any way, yet when he towered over me like that my heart just skipped a couple of beats, and my breath got caught in my throat "I can't help you if you hide away the truth Liliana" and as soon as he had appeared he disappeared in the direction of the stairway. "I have nightmares" I blurted _why had I just said that! what in seven hells Liliana?_

He stopped, turned around and briskly took a couple of steps towards me "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked with genuine interest in his voice. _No, I never want to talk about it! Not with anyone and not with you!_ But the coward that I was I hung my head and avoided his gaze "I... I eeehm" Suddenly his hand gently brought my face back up so that his eyes were now boring into mine "You don't have to tell me, but maybe you should talk to someone else about it?" he peered into my eyes "NO!" I stepped back in a reflex, leaving him to drop his hand to his side again. "I can't, I'm sorry, I'm tired, Excuse me" and I brushed passed him, running up the stairs and slamming the door of my bedroom shut behind me.

I quickly slid under the covers and curled up beneath them, I tried to shut off what he had just said. But I could not shut off the tears as they started to flow, and so I cried myself to sleep, as I done almost every night this week.

* * *

I had heard her cry herself to sleep after she had dodged me in the kitchen, my heart ached to go over to her. Hold her in my arms and rock her to sleep in my arms, but I couldn't, she wasn't mine to hold. That stupid dog of a Raoul! Damn him! I thought as I tried to sleep a little as the sounds of her sobs grew more silent by the minute.

Around five I woke again as I heard her pacing her room, talking aloud about an upcoming event. I rose and secretly peaked through the bathroom door that led to her room, she was walking around the room with a headset talking as Christine and I figured it was some interview with a reporter. I stepped back and started brushing my teeth and washing my face, if she rose early I had to rise early, simple as that.

After about an hour I heard her put down the headset that she had used and started playing the piano again. I knocked on her door as I wanted to know what the rest of the schedule for today was, as she had forgotten to tell me yesterday. "Erik?" her voice rang through the room "Yes, it's me" I heard her patter over to the door and a second later it flung open. She looked up and I was greeted by her beautiful yet really dull looking eyes. I saw that she was afraid of another round of questions about why she couldn't sleep. Yet she needed it so badly, the bags under her eyes where evidence enough that she needed to sleep, she was exhausted...

I decided to spare her and to come up with the subject later that day. "Good morning" I started "Could you update me on today's planning?" She gave me a weak smile "Sure, I forgot yesterday, sorry about that" she left the door open as she patted over to the fireplace again, plumping onto one of the couches and grabbing her phone from the small coffee table.

"So I have another interview in half an hour, than there is school at 8 till 5" She looked up at me and I nodded signaling for her to continue "After school we have to go to the recording studio for the new single, a possible photo shoot, a conference call and later that evening another interview" I nodded again, her schedule was nuts to say the least but listening to the way she recounted everything she seemed to be fine with all the press related items.

"You can go and have breakfast" she said "I don't need any help with these interviews, I had quite the extensive media training" another small smile. "Understood, yet could you tell me up front when you have to wake up early, I might be of some assistance to you" She shrugged her shoulders and nodded. "I'm going to get dressed and read through my notes for this interview, we have to leave for school right after" she looked at me waiting for my reply. "I'll be ready" she nodded "Are you done in the bathroom?" she asked with a small voice. "Yes, again sorry for that inconvenience" she shook her head "'It's fine Erik" and she walked towards the door "I'll see you downstairs at seven thirty"

And she did, dressed in dark jeans and an elegant light brown coloured sweater and leather boots. Her backpack slung around one shoulders gripped tightly by her right hand, while in the other she had a large travel coffee mug. The sight of it made me mad, she shouldn't be needing so much caffeine. "I know what you're thinking" she looked up at me "I couldn't survive this life without it, trust me"

"Liliana!" we both turned and saw Anne running from the kitchen with an apple and some health bars. She quickly put them in Liliana's bag, kissed Liliana's forehead and gave her a hug. "I'll see you tonight darling" and Liliana mumbled a goodbye as Anne now looked at me "Keep her safe please" I hear Liliana huff out a breath "mom..." but I understood Anne's feelings. "I will keep her safe, promise" and I opened up the front door for Liliana, as she grabbed her trench coat from the chesterfield in the corner of the hallway.

As she walked passed she gave me a smile "Ready for school Erik?"


	3. Chapter 3, Going back to school

**Hi!**

 **Thank you for reading my story! There are two more chapters coming reeeaaal soooon probably some time next week!**

 **Would love to hear what you think, please leave any recommendations, feedback as a review! Love to hear input from you guys!**

 **I am currently also writing a story based on the twilight novels, if you are interested find it on my profile!**

 **Hopefully happy &pleasant reading!**

 **Eve**

* * *

 **Chapter 3, Back to school.**

Erik had driven us to my school with his car, a black Audi A7 sports edition, so we attracted a crowd right away as we entered the parking lot. During the short drive we had talked about my classes, schedule, teachers the whole lot. Erik had said he would inform all the teachers personally, and we would visit the dean before my first class per his request.

I hadn't laughed so much in a long time as Erik was completely awestruck when I had told him that I had no friends. "But… You are…" and then he laughed too "and nobody knows that of course" and I had joined him in a full laughing fit. "That was pretty stupid, I'm sorry" he said after we had both calmed down "It's alright, I have those moments too you know" he raised an eyebrow "Either when I am plain Liliana or when I am Christine, I tend to forget who I am sometimes" nothing lied there, sometimes it was difficult to stay focused and perform my role. "You are not plain, Liliana" he had looked at me briefly "I have to be" I retorted. "I guess so…" he had sighed.

And now we were here in my high school's parking lot, he had exited the car quickly and walked over to my door which I had already thrown open. "You should let me" but I had grabbed my bag and had given him a glare. "I should definitely not" and his face had turned sour for a second.

It was then that I saw how much commotion we had caused, people from all around the lot were looking at what I presumed 1. Erik, 2. His car and 3. Me as they did not understand what he was doing with me. I chuckled and he looked at me "By lunch break you will be a celebrity" and he shook his head and said "If only they knew…" I chuckled, and we started walking towards the office building.

I started explaining different people, cars and the parking lot system to him, the first row of cars was for the popular kids of the school, the people I definitely hated the most. Who had mainly sport cars and large executive models, a difference could be clearly seen as the second row was the row of the jocks, large pickup trucks and jeeps. The third and fourth row were closely related or friends of the jocks and so every row had its standard occupants.

"So where do you park?" he looked at me questionably and I looked down trying to hide my blush "All the way in the back, with the nerds" he huffed "typical…" My head shot up and he explained "The most talented, kind and charming person of this rotten school parks in the back" and he looked at me like as if he was waiting for me to retort his comment.

"It's not like I can help it….." I sighed "I cannot draw any attention to myself, you know that" he sighed as we started climbing the stairs that let up to the building. "I understand, but you should be able to enjoy you high school years" he looked down at me "but I am!" I half shouted, turning red I lowered my voice again "I don't mind being a nerd, I want to get good grades, and I like being around them" he raised his eyebrows at me as he opened up the door of the building.

"You know what I mean Liliana, you could be the queen of this school" I blushed "maybe" I whispered. "Miss Morgan?" I turned around and saw our dean walking towards us "Good morning" I said in a happy voice as I shook his hand. "I presume this is mister Destler?" he said as he shook Erik's hand. "You presume right" I said, I liked our dean, Frank Johnson, he was always looking out for everyone.

"How are you doing Miss Morgan, this whole ghastly affair with your mother and such must take its toll on you" I looked down "If you need anything, or if I can help in any way you need only ask" and I gave him a small smile "Thank you Mister Johnson, that's very kind of you" he looked at me with a worried look clouding his complexion "I really hope it will be solved soon Miss Morgan, I really do" he turned to Erik "Now what would you require of us? I understand from your call that you will be following Miss Morgan throughout her day here, which is absolutely no problem at all" and Erik nodded.

"As of now I only need to follow Miss Morgan, it would help though if your staff could look out for suspicious vehicles and persons" the dean nodded "I will notify them" Erik nodded. I looked down at my watch "You must leave for your first class Miss Morgan?" the dean looked at me and I nodded. "Please keep one of our favorite students safe Mister Destler" and he shook both our hands. "Be safe Miss Morgan" and I gave him a small smile "I'll try…" As we went our separate ways Erik whispered in my ear "he seems alright" and I chuckled and nodded "wait till you meet my history teacher…" and he looked at me strangely "You are going to love him" I said with a mischievous grin.

* * *

And Erik absolutely hated him, after he had silently explained the situation, which Mr. Holden did not appreciate at all as he believed Erik to be a distraction for the other students, he had returned and sat down next to me. "What an insufferable man" he huffed and I grinned "Told you so"

Yet Mr. Holden had a point, almost every female student that would pass Erik would gape at him like he was made of shiny gold. Which was hilarious as Erik had no clue how to deal with it, so he ignored them and kept up a pretense that he did not see any of it. "I told you, they have already labeled you as a celebrity" and I saw him uncomfortably move on his chair. We were having lunch in the canteen, or I would have to say we were trying to, but we both felt uncomfortable eating with everyone watching. He leaned forward to grab one of the two apples we had bought and started slicing it up with his pocket knife, offering me the first piece, which I gratefully accepted. Hearing sighs around me I turned bright red, _really?_ and now it was Erik's turn to chuckle "They have never heard of the phrase ladies first?" I tried to hide my blush by letting my hair fall in front of my cheeks like a curtain.

We had been hearing sighs the whole day, in class when he picked up my pencil when I had dropped it making me blush and whisper a thanks in an embarrassed way, when he had grabbed my back pack and carried it for me to the next class ignoring my protest that my mom had definitely not hired him to carry my stuff. Which finally I had tried to scare him with horror stories of taking him shopping and carrying all my bags, but I failed miserably as he deducted that I hated shopping, which unfortunately was true.

And finally a whole chorus of sighs could be heard when he had decided to take up a tray and started filling it up with food for him and me, which I had protested against, as he had carried the tray and my back pack towards the checkout and had proceeded to the pay for everything and tip the canteen lady. Receiving more sighs as he had set the tray down on one of the tables and pulled back my chair, which ended up in me glaring at him and eventually accepting his gesture by sitting down.

"Don't hide yourself like that Liliana" I looked up "Well then you stop attracting attention!" I hissed. He looked at me with a 'what do you mean' face and I was tired of him not understanding so I started to explain "Don't get me wrong, please, I am just going to translate the basic teenage girl brain, which excludes mine if you start to wonder" he nodded, clearly interested in what I was about to tell him "When you behave like the gentleman that you are, which honestly I think more men should, yet I am capable of doing stuff by myself" I reminded him and his smile broadened "However, you doing all this makes these girls see you as the ultimate boyfriend" His cheeks flared bright red "And with those actions it must seem to them like we are… well… a couple" I mumbled, I wasn't sure if he was able to turn and even darker red color but he did.

"But, you know… I don't… you are… client… normal behavior…we are not…" he mumbled and I chuckled "I told you, I don't think like them, yet they are infatuated with soppy romance stories and well you are the embodiment of every twilight fan girl" He almost choked on his apple "Twilight?" I nodded "As in that vampire hype story Twilight?" and chuckled "I might have finally found a nick name for you!" and he looked at me with a stern face "This is no laughing matter…."

"Do you sparkle in the sun too Erik?" and he looked at me strangely and I couldn't contain my laughter "Why would I sparkle in the sun? What nonsense is that?" he said and I laughed even harder, tears started to stream down my face and he took out his handkerchief from his inner jacket pocket. Handing it to me, with a background sound of girly sighs, making him turn red once again. Which definitely didn't help me from stopping my laughter as I, shaking by now, accepted his token, and wiped away my tears.

"You are having way to much fun on my behalf" he muttered as my laughter faded and I held up his handkerchief after dabbing my eyes "I guess I am washing this one too" and I put it in my jeans pocket, and before he could protest I put up my hand and glared at him. "Don't you dare protest Erik Destler" adding intensity with his last name. "If you do all this stuff for me I can at least do this tiny thing for you" and he glared back, giving up after a few seconds and huffing "You are more trouble than I anticipated" earning him a roll of my eyes.

"So what class is up next?" he asked and I looked at my phone "Math, Science, Chemistry club and last but not least physics" he looked at me in a puzzled way "You study all that besides…" I knew what he was hinting and quickly nodded as we got up by the sound of the bell. Meaning him cleaning up the tray and me hastily grabbing my back pack before he could snatch it away. I had had enough of the sighs every time he did something like that, and I was more than capable of carrying my own books. Don't get me wrong I do believe there should be more men acting like gentlemen, but these girls were getting on my nerves, fast.

* * *

As my last class ended we made our way to his car "I cannot believe how smart the people in your chemistry club are" Erik said with wonder in his voice and I snorted "Just because we are students doesn't mean we are stupid" he looked at me with wide eyes "I didn't mean that!" I raised an eyebrow "I meant your club is able to create medicine, miniature explosions. You are really good, you could work in a lab somewhere" I blushed "We are not that good…" he chuckled "I tend to disagree".

We entered the parking lot and started walking towards his car as suddenly a girl, whom I didn't know, jumped in front of Erik making him step in front of me, pushing me away from what he though was a threat. I peeked from behind his broad back and saw that she was wearing a cheerleader uniform, probably just returned from practice as I saw a flock of cheerleaders stand in front of a car in the front row.

"You're Erik right?" she started in a sultry voice and I stepped from behind his back so that I could stand next to him. "Yes, you seem to have the advantage over me as I do not know you name Miss?" and she blushed at his words "I'm Stephany, cheer captain" and she looked at me, gave me a nasty look, and looked back at Erik "We are having a party at my house tonight, to celebrate my birthday, would you like to come over?"

Erik looked at her like she was a five year old asking why the sky is blue and not purple. "I'm sorry Stephany, but I believe you have been misinformed" she looked at him with a puzzled look "I am not a student here, I am Miss Morgan's bodyguard" she gave a small laugh "Dear Erik, off course I know that" _Dear Erik…_ A wave of jealousy waved over me. He was not her dear Erik! _But he is not yours either..._ Shocked by my feelings I gasped for air. Immediately Erik looked at me with a worried expression on his face but I gave a small smile an made some I'm fine movement with my hands, and he looked at Stephany again.

"Well Stephany, you should know that as Miss Morgan's bodyguard I cannot possibly attend as it is my duty to protect her day and night, so I would have to decline your invitation" She looked shocked at his rejecting "Are you sure?" and he looked at her with a stern face "I think I made myself clear, good day to you Stephany" and he looked at me "I believe this has taken up enough of your time Miss Morgan, I apologize for this intercession" I laughed internally at his mockery "It's fine Erik" and he allowed me to pass Stephany first and then followed suit.

Leaving Stephany to fume by herself we walked down the lot, and when there was enough distance between us I started snickering. "That was way to funny… But you know you just rejected the queen of the school right?" He looked down at me "I have never been asked to an event" shocked I looked at him "But… Erik every girl in that school wants you at their party" he shook his head "I never thought someone would ask me out like that" he said in a low voice while looking at the tar of the parking lot.

I huffed "I think you need a mirror Erik" he looked at me again quizzically "Djeez Erik, you really don't see it do you?" we were now standing beside his car and he opened up the door for me. I sighed as I slid in the seat "that's what I mean, you're a gentleman, you're beautiful, kind, charming, funny" I threw my backpack over my shoulder onto the rear seats. "Why on earth wouldn't someone want to go out with you" I turned back and saw that he was still standing there with his hand on the car door.

He looked frozen as he gaped at me, _wait what exactly had I just said? Oh lord, I said he was beautiful… and kind_ I blushed heavily and suddenly Erik came back to life and he cleared his throat "well, ahum, thank you…" and he closed the door. I truly wanted to kick myself right then and there as he slid in the driver's seat and fired up the engine. He turned to me and I saw that he had a slight blush on his cheeks "the studio?" I nodded quickly, to embarrassed to talk.

* * *

 _You're beautiful…beautiful_ her voice resonated in my mind, she thought I was beautiful! My heart had started to beat a little faster ever since she had said those two words. I looked over to where she was seated, she was reading something for her physics class, not noticing my quick looks.

 _Oh Liliana, you have no idea what you are doing to me._


	4. Chapter 4, Studio time

**Hi Guys! Thanks so much for reading! Please review!**

 **Happy reading! :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 4, Studio time.**

Walking into the studio building with Erik made me extremely nervous, it surprised me as I didn't understand why. I got used to singing in front of people, the nerves barely got to me anymore, so I couldn't figure for the life of me why he gave me the creeps about the singing part.

I greeted James, the doorman of the LSP Building, he was truly one of the loveliest people I had ever met. He had made me feel like I was family from day one, he knew who I was, but he didn't care and I loved him for it. James was one of the only people that I had let into the walls of my carefully built castle, I could call him in the middle of the night and he would come to my aide and vice versa.

I introduced Erik, and in return James tipped his hat and gave Erik his security pass. "Everything alright little one?" James looked at me with his grey eyes "You look pale" he said with a worried voice. I quickly kissed him on the cheek, my usual hello and goodbye routine with James. I saw Erik raise an eyebrow at this gesture "Don't worry James, it's not good for your health" I said softly. "I'm just tired"

James sighed "Just tired hmmm, watch out for yourself Kitten, you cannot fly on empty batteries" I smiled at him calling me by my nickname. "I will, I will….. Oh before I forget! I brought the tickets for the kids!" I grabbed my bag and pulled out the file with the tickets that I had asked Jake to reserve for me.

They were stage seat tickets for my next show in New York, with a meet and greet and a behind the stage tour from Christine Daemon. I had asked Jake to arrange everything, these kids were to stay in one of the fanciest hotels, flying first class, I told Jake to spare no expense.

They were all children from the orphanage that James and I worked at as volunteers, well James was there far more frequently than me, I just tried to put in some hours whenever I could. I was ashamed to admit that probably my biggest contribution to the place was the donations that I did, I knew the money would be well spend and I did not regret spending it on something as important as this, I just felt bad as it made me feel like I was buying my time.

"Kitten you bought them first class plane tickets! My god we are staying in The Roosevelt?" James was looking like he was about to faint, grabbing his pocket sash and dabbing his forehead repeatedly. "Kitten this is way too much we cannot accept this, you should get refunds for this….. we cannot" I grabbed his hands "James, now you shut up and accept the tickets or I will cancel your radio city tour" His jaw dropped to the floor "Radio city tour… How did you….. No you know what, I don't want to know….. I am going to radio city….." I gave him another kiss on the cheek and released his hands "Oh yes James you are going!"

I had spoken to some people as Christine Daemon and asked if a private tour was possible for one of my dearest friends, I rarely took in favors but I had to admit having some power in the industry came in handy once in a while. "I'll see you later James" I gave him a bright smile "yeah….. Kitten, thank you… thank you" He was still shaking his head, as if the tickets would disappear any second now. "It was nice meeting you James" Erik said behind me. James' head shot up "Take care of this one" he said "If something happens to her I will hold you responsible!" I gave him a shunning look "I will Sir" Erik's voice was full of promise, strong yet warm. It made me think about all the threats, _terrible stuff will happen to everyone you love, and you will be the one to last the longest, wallowing in the suffering of everybody else._ That was the last letter I had received, someone hated Christine, a hatred so fierce...

"We should go" I whispered to Erik, praying that my voice did not betray the fear that I felt at that moment. He nodded in agreement and we set off for the elevator, after entering our security cards in to the designated slots. When the lift finally came down, Erik let me go in first, then looked puzzled at all the level buttons. "The top floor" I said softly and he punched in 46. The lift started zooming, and I felt it move up.

"That was very generous of you" he said softly from his spot in the corner. I was fumbling with my hands "It is not enough…." And it was the truth, I could never have enough money to support everyone and everything that I wanted. So much money was needed in the world to set things straight, to perform research for illnesses, children that were dying in war zones. "It never is" I added. Erik's eyes widened a bit, yet he nodded his head. "I believe you….. yet it was still a generous gesture" he tried to look into my eyes, but I didn't want him to see how hard it was for me to keep back tears at the moment.

After what James had just said my heart had turned cold, and I was frightened to the core at the thought of someone getting hurt. I turned to look outside, the lifts at LSP! are completely made of glass, and today I was even happier about them being like this, as I could escape Erik's eyes. I sighed, it gave me tingles when he stared at me so intensely, I had no clue what to do when he did that. "Are you alright Liliana?" _Damn him, could he for once not decipher how I felt! Damnation!_ I took a deep breath and turned around, he was still looking at me, but worried now, eyeing me as if he was trying to make out if he had to help me keep my head up or if he should leave me be and ignore what he had just heard.

I gave him a bright smile, something that came in handy from my media training, I could now lie, and behave as if I was totally fine without anyone noticing the tornado that was whirling deep inside. "All good" I said, I thanked god when the elevator gave a small 'ping' as to announce that this torture was over. We stepped into the hallway, where Jake was waiting for us.

As always he was wearing a well fitted suit and a big leather briefcase, his phone glued to his hand and his glasses slightly crooked from running around. I pitied him, he worked way too hard for me, I had often asked him if he wanted to hire an assistant to help him keep up but he had told me no each single time, not wanting get my secret in danger.

As we walked over to him I heard him talking to someone on his headset, discussing some final details about my performance in New York. "Can we continue this conversation in about an hour, I need to get on working with my little star" Jake smiled towards me. I chuckled "Hi Jake, everything ok?" I asked as we started walking towards the studio. "The usual, the usual" he huffed, he opened up the door for me.

The whole top floor was the working office for Christine Daemon, the management team that worked for Jake worked on the 45th floor, completely closed off from my office, studio and private quarters. At first I had protested but after some horrid long days I came to accept that sleeping on sofa for two straight days sucked. So now sleeping in the office during deadline nights and napping between school and work had become a usual staple after Jake had constructors build a closed of studio apartment right next to the studio and my office, which nobody but him and James knew off.

When we entered the sound system area Max our sound guy was already running around, setting up the whole system. He was exactly what you would expect from a sound geek. Always dressed in scrubby clothes, covered in tattoos with an eyebrow piercing above his right eye. A hat tipped slightly to the left of his head and espadrilles on his feet. He walked over to me to give me a hug "heya single lady" I chuckled, I guess I could say everybody had some sort of a nickname for me. "hey Max, how you doing?" I hugged him back. "Ok, ok, doing fine. I set up everything the usual way, should be warmed up by the time you are ready" he gave me a wink. "Cool, thanks Max"

I turned to look at Erik "I'll show you the place" but Jake cut me off "I'll do that, you go warm up, and dress up, that skype interview is right after the recordings and that photo shoot is still on standby so just keep that in mind. Besides the reporters for the video conference about your performance will be on the line at 8 so we have absolutely no time." And with that waterfall of words he pushed me towards my closet/vanity room.

I gave Erik a pitiful look as I closed the door, boy he was in for a joyride, I had grown accustomed to the weird hours and the traveling in between everything. I just hoped he would adjust easily, for his sake.

* * *

She closed the door and he was left standing there with Jake. "So the room that she just vanished into is mostly big closets and a large vanity with a safe for her spare performance masks and some jewels we keep on site for interviews and such." _This guy is just one bonk of adrenaline_ I thought as Jake just kept on rumbling about what to find in which room.

"I am glad you're around man" Jake sighed "Liliana is such a struggle when it comes to her protection detail, it is the only part she hates about all this." He motioned for me to follow him. "it's a good thing Anne keeps her grounded on these sort of topics, she needs that"

We were now back in the main hallway and Jake pointed at some doors where the kitchen, his office and Max his sound mix room where established. Then he walked over to a more secure door with a password lock and two separate key locks. "I am guessing these are her quarters?" I asked Jake while he was punching numbers into the password lock. "Yup, good guess" he answered with a chuckle.

The lock made a small beeping sound and it swung open the massive steel door. "When I am here, or when she is present we don't use the double locking system but at all times the moment we leave everything is locked up and secure. We are not taking any risks." I nodded "noted" Jake looked satisfied at my curd answer. "A personal set of keys and a phone with the system software for the lock have been ordered for you, so within a day you'll have access to everything too." _Great_ "I need to know who has access to this part of the floor" I asked Jake. As he swung open the door. "Sure, only me, Raoul and Liliana have a set of keys and a phone with the locking software, but James has a master key of the building so he has access to the floor, but not to her quarters same goes for Max, he can access her office but not her quarters. Also the door automatically locks after 30 seconds of the opening up of the lock so you have to get in quick"

We walked into a grand office with fancy fixtures after the door had shut behind us with another beep. The space was airy and bright, with large glass panes that showed the city scenery. A set of white leather couches that where set in a circle lead up to a large desk with four screens and a separate laptop. There was no other door so I looked at Jake in confusion."Hidden quarters somewhere?" He laughed "Yes I am very proud of this one, it had a price but boy did it payoff" he walked over to the desk and showed me that on the side panel there was a tiny piece of wood that could be removed by moving it to the side by about an inch. It revealed another pass-code panel in which he punched a 4 digit code. "Same software" I asked. He nodded in agreement, and a small beep came from the panel in agreement.

A soft humming, buzzing noise came from the corner of the room as two panels of the left wall slowly sunk into the floor showing a metal door. "Amazing architecture" I said "You cannot see a trace of the panels" as I walked over to inspect the part of the wall which had just opened up to show its hidden treasure. Jake smiled "Yeah it costs something but you know, her safety is something not to be trifled with" I nodded in agreement. "So on this panel is a palm reader, only Liliana's or my hand can open this, but your palm will be added to the security so you can enter the room too" he said while placing his palm in the designated square scanner. A green light flaring up as his palm was verified and accepted, unlocking the panel and showing a small but bright room.

"It is not much" Jake said while stepping inside "A small kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, so she can rest, study a bit, but generally she takes her in-between naps here" As I stepped in I saw a desk loaded with books standing next to the window, giving daylight to study at the desk and brightening the room with the sparse sunlight that it let through. On the other side was a queens size bed, also covered in books, which made me smile. It was like I was looking at a smaller version of her bedroom at home. There was a small coffee table with two comfy chairs which took up the remaining floor space.

Jake swung open one of the two doors in the room, which revealed a small bathroom. "She hears an alarm when someone opens the door while she is here" Jake pointed towards the screen that hung beside the metal door, it showed the inside of the office, which was now empty. Then he walked over to the other door which showed a small simple kitchen. "All right, so there are no other ways to enter this room right? No air vents or such?" I asked Jake while looking around the room "Nope, the circulation comes from the office so there is no other point of entry possible, oh and in case of a fire or any other threat the door opens for 30 seconds to let you out of the room but shuts afterwards, you need the start up the system again via the software to open it up again after such an event happens"

A sound like a doorbell rang, which made me turn around and look at the small screen, presuming it was the alarm Jake had told me about just now. The small screen showed Liliana standing in front of the door, but, well she wasn't Liliana anymore as she had changed from her normal jeans and sweater ensemble to a royal blue lace cocktail dress with a matching pair of heels. Her hair had been curled and thick locks flowed down her shoulders, a diamond necklace sparkling around her neck. Her face covered by one of the diamond studded white lace mask, it was very delicate with almond shaped cutouts which were lined with silver threading making her blue eyes stand out even more.

The door flung open and seeing her in reality, right there in front of me took my breath away. She was looking down at her phone when she entered the room. "Jake, something is wrong with my phone I cannot start-up the song lyrics that I wrote on the encrypted disc" That's when she looked up, and god she should not have done that, those blue eyes looking up underneath thick lashes. _how can I tell you… you are beautiful, so incredibly beautiful._ "Oh Erik" she said while looking at me "Jake showed you everything?" She cocked her head slightly. I quickly swallowed and regrouped myself "Yes, yes he did. I believe I am fully up to date now" She gave me a smile "Good"

She turned to Jake "Could you please order another bed for the room? I cannot let Erik sleep on the couch while I am here, and with the deadlines coming up I am afraid that we will be here quite often" I tried to protest but she cut me off. "Trust me Erik after two days on the couch you will pray for a bed, I am speaking from experience" She gave a light chuckle "It will be tight, but we will make it work somehow" Jake nodded "consider it done, I'll have someone look at your phone" she handed it to him "Thanks Jake. So for today's recording." She pushed the button to open up the door again "I want to give the track another try, fumble a bit with the different tunes and complete the single, when was the deadline again? In two weeks right?" She asked Jake as they started leaving the room, and I quickly followed.

 _There is no way I will be able to sleep in the same room as her, god has she any idea what she does to me?_ As we made our way back to the studio the thoughts kept on rolling through my mind. _I need to come up with an excuse, something, I cannot get to close with her, this must remain professional. I….._ "Everything alright Erik?" Liliana had kept the studio door open for me, looking at me with a slight worried face. I must have looked mad at that moment, looking at her like I was fighting an internal battle "Why wouldn't it be" I said jokingly. She grinned "You tell me" she said with a chuckle. Now I was grinning too, how did she manage to do that? Always make me forget every worry. "Liliana? Systems ready!" Max yelled from inside the studio. She gave me a half smile "Duty's calling" and she turned away from me walking towards the studio booth. Her curls jumping slightly up and down from the movement she made. Putting on headphones, while giving a thumbs up to Max showing she was ready, taking her position behind the microphone.

* * *

As I stood there waiting on the music to start I felt him staring, as if his eyes where scanning every inch of my body, taking in every part of me like he was etching me into his brain. I couldn't help but look up and glance at him, his emerald green eyes focused on my face. I blushed and closed my eyes, trying to focus on the music, which took much more effort than usual.

Knowing I would have a headache after this I sucked in a breath and tried to sing the song to the best of my ability. It was a power ballad I had written during one of the times I had been stuck in bed after one of my fainting spells. It embodied all the pain I had felt being stuck and not being able to get up, remembering and replaying shards of the memory that the accident had engraved in my mind. It was full of emotion and it made my voice crack at the end of the song, as I took my last breath to sing the final line a tear I had been fighting to hold back welled from my eye and slowly rolled down my cheek. It made me aware of where I was and I opened my eyes for a split second, something I shouldn't have done as I caught Erik's eyes, his beautiful emerald green eyes.

He looked pained, as if my voice had stabbed him, and he was fighting the sound trying to eliminate it from his memory. It released a feeling of doubt in me, was the song that bad? Did I make it sound bad? Why was he looking like that? "Liliana?" Max whispered in my ear, through my headphones. I ripped myself from Erik and my head shot towards Maxs spot, inside the sound mix booth. "Djeez" I heard him sniff "Fuck man, how can you sing like that, that was awesome." Another sniff. I saw him dab his eyes. "Was it good?" I asked softly, looking from Jake to him and back to Jake. The only thing he did was give a double thumbs up, unable to speak. Right next to him Erik was still standing motionless, although his expression had changed he was no longer looking pained, yet rather looking like he could not believe what had just happened.

It stirred my whole body, why did I feel like this? Why did he make me feel like this!? _Regroup! It doesn't matter what he thinks, your fans should like it. YOU should like!_ I huffed, indeed what did I care! My throat felt a bit dry so I asked to take ten and resume with the single after the break. Jake gave the ok sign so I left the booth to grab my water bottle and join Max in his sound mix booth. "Girl, if this is not a winner I am resigning! Where is all that pain and emotion coming from? You blew me away!" Max stood up to hug me, he rubbed my back a little and released me grabbing my shoulders and shaking me as if to shake the answer out of me. "I don't know! It just happens… I guess it just releases another part of me" I laughed. Max shook his head "Well whatever it is, keep on doing it!"

He threw a starburst to me from his ever present reservoir of candy, I caught it and took place on the bar stool that he had at hand for me. While popping the starburst in my mouth I asked him if we could try some different backgrounds for the bridge part. "Sure, sure we can make it a bit more bassy I think, would probably enhance your voice even more!" He replied while turning and moving some different buttons. "By the way, what the hell did you do to your human shield?" My eyes widened _So Max had seen it too!_ "So you have already made up a nickname for him huh?" I said while laughing. Max just point his hand like a pistol and figuratively fired it up in the air "But what do you mean?" _Had he seen the same as me?_ My curiosity flared up. "It was like you where punching him with needles" Max was now looking at me. I looked at my hands "Oh? I don't know, I wasn't really looking at him" _That was partly the truth I had only tried to avoid him at all cost….._ "Well maybe you should ask if he is alright, it looks like he was moved by your little performance girl" Max gave me a mischievous look, raising his eyebrows a couple of times. I punched his shoulder "Oh shut up! He is just part of my protection detail! This is strictly a professional relationship" But Max started laughing "Girl if I wasn't straight I would date the guy! Are you sure there is not a teeny tiny sparky flame lighting up in that heart of yours, or should I say his? Cause, damn I think you have another big fan." He was still giving me looks, and I was no longer able to deny anything, so I hopped of my bar stool and stole another starburst from his preserves, giving him a strict look. "You of all people should know I am stone cold from the inside Max" Reminding him of the time he had asked me out and I had turned him down as I loved him to much as a dear friend. "Ow and another arrow through my heart" Max said while gripping his chest and giving me a wink. "Go get him tiger" he said while I was making my way to the door still laughing as I knew he must be on to me and my slight sliver of feelings towards Erik.

I turned and made a movement of holstering my gun to my side and tipping my figurative cowgirl hat. Max laughed and returned his focus to the multitude of buttons and screens. As I left the sound mix booth I looked over to where I had last seen Erik, I felt this need to ask him why he had looked that way, I was trying to figure out why he could have looked that way. _Jake loved the song, right? Max was blown away, so why had he looked like he absolutely hated the song._ It was driving me mad, but as I looked at the booth where Jake usually stood I saw that they were in a discussion about something, and I didn't really want to bother them, well actually I didn't want to ask Erik that question with Jake present. As I am afraid if the outcome of his answer was negative I would not be able to hide it with a smile.

There would be another chance to ask him in the car, or perhaps tonight. So instead of barging in I made my way back to my booth picking up my headphones on my way in. Adjusting them a couple of times before they were set up comfortably on my ears. "Liliana you ready?" Max was looking at me from his booth, ready to pull the switch and start the music. "eehm just give me a second" I fumbled with my sheet music, trying to get rid of my nerves. "Just breath in and out" I heard Jake's' calm and relaxing voice through the headphones, he had known me too long to know when I was nervous and was lacking courage. I looked up at him, he was talking straight into the microphone. "You can do it, I know you can! Just close your eyes and think you are in your own home, playing on your piano with no one around. Nobody is watching, nobody is listening, you are just fumbling around with the keys." I had closed my eyes and my lips crept up into a small smile. I was imagining the coziness and silence of my own room, it calmed me a bit. Not taking all the nerves away but enough for me to relax and give Max a sign to start the tape.

The new single was more upbeat, a bit of rock with a hinge of top forty melody, it was edgy, happy and fun. It made me want to dance and I saw from the corner of my eye that Max was moving with the beat which made me smile while I sucked in another breath to belt out the final note of the bridge which leaped into an instrumental part. I was too much of a coward to look at Erik again so I kept my eyes at Max who gave me a thumbs up as I sang the second verse and after a while completed the song with the last note.

We did the single a couple of times, trying out different beats and melodies, listening to what sounded better until Jake knocked on the glass and pointed to his watch giving me the sign that the interview would start soon. I looked at Max and he stopped the music, I plucked the headphones from my ears and hung them beside the microphone, grabbing my sheet music and moving towards the exit of the booth. To my surprise Erik was already standing there, opening the door for me as I approached. I looked at him, unsure of what he was thinking "eehm thanks" I murmured. He nodded and started walking behind me again as I made my way to the conference room, it was on the other side of the hallway.

Nothing exciting about it just the normal large oval table to gather everyone around and the flat screens that are mounted to the wall for interviews such as these. Jake was making sure that everything was in order, nothing in sight of the camera that could be traced to me or the building. He seated Erik in the corner, right in the opposite way of myself, so there was no way he could be seen. "Five more minutes till we are live" he said from his seat right next to me while fumbling on his phone. "Oh yes here" he said while giving me back my phone "you weren't connected to the network shares anymore, so the tech guys fixed it, they also updated the security and deleted some bugs in the system" I smiled "Thanks Jake!" I accepted the phone, I should pay those guys a visit sometime, thanking them for everything that they do. "One more minute" And the screens turned on, showing the LSP! Logo. I took a deep breath, _here we go, give them a big smile!_ And I gave the screen a bright smile as four different people plopped up.


	5. Chapter 5, Uncomfortable moments

**Hi everyone!**

 **So I am literally swamped with writing my thesis so this will probably be one of the last chapters for a little while...**

 **I will probably squeeze in another chapter for my other story and maybe even one for this story as I had the outline lying around for a long time, but don't hate me if I can't make it...**

 **Please enjoy and review!**

 **Eve**

* * *

 **Chapter 5, Uncomfortable moments with a shadow**

As we said our goodbyes to the reporters I picked up my phone, _my god it is that time already?_ It was way passed dinner time, and as I started to think about food my belly started to make protesting noises. "Dinner is coming up" said Jake with a laugh as he rose from his chair stretching his back up. "Good I'm starving" _no lie said there_ I thought to myself, "The other interview will be over the phone right?" I looked at Jake for confirmation. "Yup in about an hour" I nodded, "Food first, no wait shower and PJs first, food second" I said while I got up from my chair.

I felt exhausted from all the stuff that had happened in the past couple of days. I was definitely taking a nap after the interview, if there was time, cause that was the problem lately. At least I could walk in comfy clothes I thought as I kicked off my heels and started walking towards the door barefoot. "Jake did you order Thai?" my voice hopeful as Jake laughed and replied with a yes. "Awesome! Oh did you ask what Erik wanted?" I asked while looking at him, again the answer was yes. "Ok cool, of course you've got it all covered" I said with a smile "So, eehm I'll be in my room" I said while opening up the door of the conference room. "Sure, sure try to get some sleep" Jake said while being glued to his phone again. I smiled "will try" and Erik was right behind me, my never leaving shadow, he lived up to his explanation of what he did for a living, I chuckled. "I'm sorry?" I turned around by the sound of his voice, I cocked my head. "I did not understand what you said" Erik looked at me questionably. "Oh… Well I didn't…. say anything" I looked down at my feet again. "ah, ahum ok" His voice sounding unsure.

Not sure what to do I made my way across the hall, unlocking my office door. Erik opening the door for me as I slid passed him into the office, I moved over to the desk and punched in the combination from my phone. Opening up the panel, walking towards it I pressed my hand onto the panel and the door swung open. Erik still following my every move, as we were now both standing in my room I started to feel uneasy. "eehm I'm eh I'm going to take a shower" I felt my cheeks flare up in embarrassment "Yeah, sure. I can wait in your office" Erik said while moving towards the steel door again. "No, no" I stammered "It's fine you can stay here, I mean there is not much you can do in the office… Just help yourself, you know where the kitchen is, eehm and the TV" I walked over to my nightstand, moving a couple of books, I found the remote and picked it up and walked over to him. I pressed one of the buttons and the panel in the wall moved up to show the flat screen. "I believe it has all the channels" I said while handing him the remote "I've never really had the time to check it out though, so I guess you can tell me if" his fingers brushed against my hand while accepting the remote, it gave of an electric shock that whirled through my body. Shocked I looked at him, he looked equally shocked at me for a flicker of a second but he quickly hid his expressions "Thank you" he said softly. I quickly looked away "Sure no problem" I mumbled.

"Would you like me to make you anything to drink while you shower?" he asked me and my eyes shot up again. _Huh, what did he just, eehm I don't know…_ "I hope you don't mind me taking advantage of the coffee machine, I believe I could benefit from some caffeine" He said with a half-smile, and I just nodded. He was still looking at me waiting for an answer. "Oh the coffee machine! Eehm sure no problem, I drink coffee all the time to stay awake" I blurted. He chuckled "I believe you, would you like me to make you a cup?" _why couldn't I look away! Damn him! Why do I feel hopeless in his presence?_ "No, no I'll make one after I have showered!" I sucked in a breath. "So, eehm, I'll go and take that shower now" I blurted out, my face was probably bright red, and I quickly turned around and basically ran for the bathroom door.

Throwing my back against it I scolded myself, _what is wrong with you! You are not falling for the first guy that can actually stay in your life! You are not that weak hearted!_ I sighed and breathed out for what felt like an hour. As I gathered myself together I slowly started to undress, putting the dress on a hanger and placing it on the hook of the door. Slipping out of my underwear I padded over to the shower and turned the nob releasing a waterfall of warm comforting water. As I stepped under it I could finally relax a little, letting the thought of Erik being only meters away with only a door separating him from me disappear to the back of my mind as I started soaping my whole body, scrubbing away the dirt of the day, removing my make-up form my face and finally grabbing my shampoo and washing my hair.

The scent of roses filling up the air around me, I let out a happy sigh, I already had been in the shower for more than a couple of minutes, but it was just so relaxing, I didn't want to leave! Rinsing my hair one more time savoring the last moments of the warm water enveloping me I turned the nob and the water stopped flowing, leaving me to grab a towel at lightning speed and knotting it around myself. The smell of freshly made coffee started seeping through the door and it made my stomach growl again. I dried myself off, and opened the cabinet that held spare sets of underwear, from which I grabbed a pair while I put my wet hair in a knot leaving it to drip onto my back. I didn't care as my mind was set on food, throwing on my robe, which was plush and baby blue, cut off at knee height.

In my hurry of escaping Erik I had forgotten to grab my PJ from the bed, _so the robe had to do the job_ I thought as I threw open the door. First thing I was going to do was pop an ibuprofen for the headache that I had developed during the interview. To my surprise Erik was sitting down into one of the lounge chairs his long legs stretched out onto the floor, leaning back into the cushions, while watching the news channel and slowly sipping his coffee.

When he turned towards me his eyes went wide and he turned away from me at lightning speed, sitting himself up straight. "I am sorry I didn't mean to intrude, I mean look your way… I'm sorry" he rambled while looking at the desk avoiding my presence. _Oh my, I didn't mean to disturb him._ I started to blush, _he is a prude, hahaha that is totally cute, him being such a gentleman!_ I slapped my hand in front of my mouth, _what the hell was I thinking! Stop it Liliana!_ "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you" I started, his head turned slightly upon hearing my apology. Yet he still avoided looking at me "I forgot my PJs" my cheeks flared up as I walked over to my bed. I heard him suck in a breath. "Eehm Erik?" At the sound of his name being spoken by me he turned around, yet he was now looking at the floor in order to avoid looking up at me "Yes, Liliana?" he said with a hinge of nerves in his voice and I walked over to stand in front of him "I don't mind" I said softly.

His head shot up, looking directly at my face his eyes wide with disbelief. "Well I don't really care!" I said with a slight tremble. "I mean we will need to get used to being around each other all the time, and well we will encounter situations similar to this one more frequently. And…. And you cannot stare at the wall all the time" I finished my waterfall of words jokingly. "I'll just try to remember grabbing my PJs next time, before taking the shower….." I paused "It's just, well, I'm used to being alone" He stared at me intensely as if he was trying to gauge if I was making fun of him in any way. "I mean no offense to you! I just need to get used to having someone around, I don't have the privacy that I was used to anymore" Now I was looking at the floor, it was true though, even my mom didn't come into these rooms.

Jake usually knocked just to let me know it was time, once in a while he had to come in and push me out of my bed but it truly was my own room. "I guess you are right…." He sighed, I looked up at him. "We will be in tight quarters for much of our time" he looked into my eyes. "I just didn't want to intrude on you, and well" He was glancing shyly at me now "I've never had to protect a woman before so these privacy issues have never been a problem before" _Woman, he called me a woman….. not a girl!_ My stomach turned at that one word: Woman. He saw me as a woman, not a little girl! My lips slowly curled into a smile, only two days into this endeavor and I had the feeling we were becoming more than just a human shield and Christine. I would have loved it if we could become friends at least.

"Well now that we are passed this point" I said with a hinge of laughter in my voice "Would you like to take a shower too? I am afraid that we will have to stay here tonight" While I was in the shower my phone had pinged from a text that Jake had sent, the interview was delayed by an hour as the reporters from America had called in informing us that one of their previous interviews had take longer than expected. Being Christine I had to be as flexible as possible so I had simply said fine, which put the interview at 9 pm tonight. There was no way that after that interview I was travelling home, we would get there at 11 probably later so I had texted Jake I was staying here.

"The interview got delayed by an hour, so if you don't mind I would like to stay here for the night, I hate travelling home this late" what I hated more was waking up my mom or keeping her up this late as she would probably wait for me to come home. "I'm sorry for this…." I did feel bad for him, he would probably have to sleep in one of the chairs or on the couch in the office. "Don't worry, I understand" he simply said with a smile.

There was a knock on the wall, _FOOD!_ I ran over to the screen as I saw Jake standing there with bags of my favorite Thai place. I opened the door for him and he swiftly moved into the space. "Got you your favorite, with extra beef" As he handed me a bag, hungrily I accepted the bag and placed it on the coffee table, grabbing my water bottle. I ripped open the bag and inhaled the heavenly smell of my drunk man noodles, _soooo gooood!_ "Are you ok with doing the interview by yourself?" Jake was standing in front of me now, he had given Erik the two other bags. "Sure, no problem I said" I cocked my head, had I forgotten something? "You need to leave?" I asked him "I want to go over some final details with the American troops that we have hired for your show, so I will talk to them while driving home, and I still have heaps of emails and other stuff to take care of before we leave next Friday, so I will be working from home tomorrow." I nodded "No problem, I'll manage the interview" I smiled at him "Don't work too hard please, I will need you in two weeks, and two months, and two years so take care of yourself" I stood up and gave him a quick hug. He sighed "I know, I know, can I expect the same off you? Even better Erik, I don't care if you bind her to her bed but she needs to sleep" I started laughing as Erik was looking from me to Jake and back to me again. "I mean it, she needs to sleep, if she is not at her best the next few weeks we will have a big problem" Jake said while walking towards the steel door. "You take yourself home mister worrisome" I said while sticking out my tongue "And thanks for the food, you are the best" Jake made a sailor gesture. "I'll talk to you tomorrow Liliana" I waved as he pushed the button to unlock the door, after he had checked the screen to see if the office was empty. "Erik" he said as a means of goodbye and I chuckled as Erik replied with a simple "Jake" I saw Jake walk out of the office and my focus went back to my food again.

I picked up my chopsticks and my bowl of noodles and walked over to my bed, picking up one of my favorite books on the way and set all three on my night stand as I moved back the covers and slipped under them. That's when I caught him staring at me again "Oh, I'm sorry, I usually eat my food in bed….. bad habit…" I felt my face burn up as I picked up my book and my bowl, trying to hide behind them, when he gave a low chuckle which made me look towards him again, cocking my head as I didn't understand why he was laughing. While he picked up his food he said "you remind me of someone, from a long time ago" my curiosity peaked "She used to eat everything in bed too, shameless as she would call it" he laughed again. "She was special to you?" I blurted out, stuffing my mouth quickly with noodles, preventing any further stupid questions from coming out. He turned and looked at me, sadness clouding his eyes, as he whispered softly "She was" A dark feeling crept over me, I felt like I was intruding "I'm sorry, you didn't, you don't need to answer that….." and I stuffed some more noodles into my mouth. He gave me a half smile "It's ok, I don't mind, it was a long time ago" returning his eyes towards his plate of Thai food. "Would you mind if I kept the news channel on?" he looked into my direction again. I almost choked on my noodles in my stupid attempt to avoid his gaze, so I quickly shook my head and grabbed my water bottle to flush down the whole lot.

After munching in silence for about ten minutes I had read my favorite chapter of the book again, while secretly studying Erik by looking slightly over the top of my book. He interested me in a way that I could not explain, I wanted to get to know him better, I had this feeling that he had been hurt in some way in the past. Not meaning the scars in his face, but deep down his heart had been stepped on, shattered by someone. Seeing him relax slightly in his chair watching the news messages made me want to keep him in this room forever, just so that he never had to feel chased or tense again.

I sighed and leaped out of bed, that could never be, and I shouldn't think like that! He looked my way at the sound of my movement. "Can I throw away.." I pointed at the empty bowls and plate. He leaped up from his chair "No, you don't have to do that" he started to stack his plate and bowl but I picked up everything moving his hands away. "Erik, please, I feel helpless enough with you being here taking a bullet if it came flying my way, so please let me at least do something while you are here" he was looking down into my eyes, which made me look away as I had come to fear his intense stare. "But, you are my client, I cannot accept you doing this, it should be the other way around" I laughed as I moved towards the kitchen door, which he opened up for me. "I do not think my mom hired you to clean up my messes Erik" I said while throwing all the stuff into the garbage bin that was set in the corner.

As I turned around he was looking at me again, _could he just not stare at me for a moment!_ "Liliana, I… I… don't want you, I mean I shouldn't even call you by your first name! for god's sake, I shouldn't even be looking at you while you are dressed like this" He looked at me ashamed of what he was doing "Only Raoul should be able to see this….." He turned around and opened the door for me again, but I was glued to the floor. Raoul _? What had Raoul to do with any of this? Wait does he think… ha…ha…hahaha_ I started laughing, my body shaking with laughter. _He thinks Raoul and I are together!_ He turned around to look at me, his look astonished, staring at me with a mixture of anger, curiosity and concern. I tried to control my laughter, taking a deep breath "Erik what made you think that?" I said during two hiccups of laughter "Me and Raoul… ha…haha….pffff that would be a good joke, you silly, Raoul has twelve different girls on speed dial. And I would never be one of them, he might be like a brother to me, but that is all he will ever be"

His eyes glistened, I saw relief strike over his face for only a split second, but I caught it and it made my stomach do a back flip. "But…" he huffed "You must think me terribly stupid" he said, while a smile crept on his face "I just thought…. Well you two are so close…" his neck was now slowly turning red in places. "It's ok, I get it, we are close" I looked at him "But not THAT close", a bright smile stuck to my face as a thought crept into my mind "As punishment for thinking that I have such bad taste you WILL let me do these sort of things" I said while pointed at him. He laughed his low rumbling laugh, and his face shone with childish glee "Bad taste" he said with a smirk "I'm afraid I have something to make up for" he swung open the door for me again, and I slid past him. "So will you let me…" I looked back at him, he was still laughing in the kitchen doorway. "I guess I have no choice….." He said softly "After this blunder….."

I smirked "Good, now do you want me to leave so you can take a shower?" I asked as I sat down on the edge of my bed "I can try to see if there is spare field bed somewhere in the building?" but he cut me off "NO!" my eyes widened at his blunt almost angry answer "You cannot take off without me being present! I must remain at your side at all times!" His eyes bore into mine with an inflamed anger I had to avoid, so the coward that I was I stared at my feet as I apologized "I'm sorry" I whispered, I didn't mean to make him mad at me…. I yelped as suddenly he was kneeling in front of me, I hadn't even heard him move over! "Liliana…" he said while peering into my eyes from below, I moved my head to the right, I didn't want him to see how hurt I was by him shouting at me.

Suddenly I felt something lift up my chin, Erik had put out his arm lifting up my head with the tips of his hands. "I didn't mean to upset you…" he sighed, I was still trying to avoid his gaze by looking straight past him. "You are to valuable, more valuable than you believe yourself to be" My eyes widened and I dared to look at him, I slightly shifted leaning towards him. Alarmed he dropped his hand "You shouldn't be so thoughtless about your own life" he blamed me, his voice tainted with pain. "I'm not" I whispered, truly I was not, or so I thought. "Maybe…" he whispered back, still looking at me with concern. "I'll stay here" I muttered under my breath. "Good" he said softly in return, while he stood up "I already told Jake that I believe this room is almost like a safe, so as long as you stay inside I do not need to be here all the time, you could still have some privacy" I simply nodded, welcome to my nightmare... a gilded cage... "I have a set of spare clothes in my car, would you mind if I were to get them now?" I shook my head "could you open the door on my return?" I nodded. "Thank you" he said while moving towards the door. "Please, don't be mad" my head shot towards the door, Erik was standing there, looking like he was hurt by something as he was looking at the floor. "I'm not, I'm just trying to adapt to all this, and this 'safe' concept" I grabbed my book and slipped under the covers once more. I was mad, yet I did not want to show it to him. As I heard the system beep I knew he had slipped out. _Stupid! Now I wasn't sure if I was mad at myself or mad at him._ I opened up the book at the page I had just been.

I hadn't even finished the chapter when I heard a soft knock on the door, I looked up towards the screen and saw it was Erik standing in front of the panel with what looked like a weekend bag. I jumped out of bed and pushed the buttons beside the screen, he swung open the door and I stepped aside to let him in. "Thank you" I nodded, as I moved back towards my bed. Changing my mind I turned around "Towels and such are all in the cabinets" I tried to explain "Eehm I'm afraid I don't have any soap or shampoo for men though" I said with a chuckle. He let out a small breath and laughed, a relieved expression covering his face as he figured I truly was not mad at him. He lifted up the bag he was holding "Got that covered" I smiled again. "I'll leave you to it than" and I hopped on my bed again.

He was still looking quite unsure, contemplating if it was safe to leave me alone in the room. Sighing I picked up my book and shook it sarcastically "I'm not going anywhere Erik" I said with a half-smile " Pinky promise". He laughed and put up both his hands as if to say he had surrendered to my promise "Just making sure…." And he disappeared into the bathroom. I chuckled, happy that he was not mad, and well I was not mad anymore. I looked at my alarm and saw that the interview was still 45 minutes away, I could put my head down for a moment…. The thought of a little sleep was too tempting as I plucked my hair out of the messy bun I had created from the shower. Pulling up the covers I let down my head onto the pillow. Just ten minutes….. I thought as I closed my eyes.


	6. Chapter 6, Throwback

**Hi! So this chapter will explain somethings about Erik and Liliana!**

 **Hope you enjoy the little throwback!**

 **Please review! Would love to hear what you think!**

 **Eve**

* * *

The shower had been refreshing, I had to admit, it was just way to bad I couldn't stay under it for just a little longer... I turned the nob and the water was shut off again, stepping out of the shower, I walked over towards the cabinet and pulled open one of the doors. And Lord I didn't know how quickly I had to shut it! The cabinet held two drawers lined with what looked like velvet: one filled with what looked like underwear, bottom parts to be exact, and the other with bras . My cheeks flushed at the site of them, as my eyes flew over a dark blue ensemble of pure lace. I slammed the door shut, this was only going to give me the wrong ideas! As an image of Liliana standing in my bedroom doorway in only the lacy ensemble and her black satin kimono crossed my mind.

 _No!_ I was ready to punch myself. Where are the towels! Afraid to open another cabinet I reluctantly peeked inside the next one, in which I found stacks of plush white bath towels. _Liliana!... Oh Liliana, you will be the death of me,_ I thought while drying myself of and grabbing my spare suit from my weekend bag. _Not telling me about this sort of stuff that's lying around!_ I felt like such an intruder! Even thinking about her like that! I sighed deeply and I glared at myself in the mirror, my cheeks were still a bit reddened by my sudden discovery of the 'underwear' drawers. Which made my hideous scars flare up, _this hideous face... she could never love a hideous creature like you! Unworthy... You should be glad that you are even allowed to be near her, protecting her! Count yourself a lucky man!_ STOP! I smashed my fist down on the counter top. STOP THIS...

As I tried to control my breath I turned my back at the mirror, ignoring the horrendous reflection my face had given me moments before. I started fidgeting with my tie and patting down my hair as it had a tendency to stick up right when being wet giving me an even worse menacing look. Reluctantly I turned around and faced my reflection once more, and after concluding it was all fine I opened up the door to the room, when I didn't see her sitting at the desk nor in one of the chairs I started to worry. I scanned the other side of the room, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw her.

She was sleeping peacefully in her bed, the covers up till her middle and her face tilted to the left looking away from me, her legs bent towards the same direction with one arm crossing her stomach, the other lying bent next to her face. Her chest slowly rising and falling, completely relaxed. I stopped in my tracks, unable to look away, she was like a drug keeping me in a trance, focusing on only her.

She was so beautiful, lying there without any worry covering her face. Her eyelids fluttered and I tore away my eyes from her sight, I didn't want her catching me staring at her, but she kept on sleeping, so without making a sound I walked over to the chairs in front of the television and put down my bag, turning off the television so that the sounds would not cause her any disturbance during her slumber. As I sat down I kept looking her way, but she still didn't move, sleeping safe and sound.

I glanced over to the pile of books besides my chair, it was so typical for her to have books lying around, my eye fell on one about Roman architecture. I picked it up and started flipping through the sights of Rome and its many interesting buildings. After some minutes of restlessly flipping through the pages I suddenly gripped my gun as an alarm went off somewhere in the room. I chuckled at my own foolishness as I saw Liliana's phone light up and figured she had set an alarm to wake her up in time. But she just turned over in her sleep and let out a sort of groan, clutching her head with both her hands, as if to block out the sound of the alarm. I laughed at her annoyed face and rose from my chair walking over to the bed I picked her phone and tapped the screen twice and the alarm stopped blaring.

It was now eight forty-five, I did not now if she needed to prepare for the interview so I bent over Liliana and softly shook her shoulder. "Nnnnnhhh" she let out another groan and tried to swipe away my hand, curling up under the covers. "Liliana" I softly brushed her cheek, "you have to wake up….. Liliana" I brushed a stray lock of her hair from her neck. "Gohawy" she murmured, turning her whole body away from me. I laughed _GOD she was stubborn!_ At the sound of me laughing she turned her head my way, slowly opening her eyes, as she caught the sight of me they flew open "Erik?" her raspy voice resonated between the walls.

She tried to get up on her elbows, wobbling a bit as she was still half asleep, her hair completely messed up and the top part of her robe slightly creeping open, showing a sliver of black lace, making me shiver all over. She looked even more beautiful like this, completely natural and all messed up, but she was herself, her own being. I quickly looked away _Being this close is to her, the smell of her skin, that hinge of rose shampoo in her hair_ "Your interview is in ten minutes" I said while staring at her desk. "Thank…. Thank you" she said while stumbling out of the bed in the direction of the kitchen.

"You eeh… would you like a coffee?" She said, while standing in the doorway of the kitchen letting out a small yawn as she adjusted her robe. "Yeah that would be great" I said. She nodded mid yawn putting a hand in front of her mouth. "One coffee coming up" she said with sheepish smile and disappeared into the kitchen. Appearing moments later with two cups of strong black coffee "How do you take it?" she looked at me questionably "Black" I replied. "Mm, good answer, saves me a walk" she said while taking a sip from her cup, handing me the other mug she was holding. They were both Disney cups with Micky mouse figures on them. "Nice" I said with a smirk, I had seen them in the cupboards but as I didn't want to intrude before I had grabbed a normal black one. "No bad words about my favorite mugs" she said with a smile, looking more alive and less sleepy with the minutes passing.

While walking over to the desk and grabbing a pair of headsets she asked if I wanted to listen in while putting on one of the sets over her wild bed hair. "I don't know if it is useful for you in any way….." She stared at the ground for a second, I reached out my hand and accepted the other headset, making her jump by the movement "Sure, why not, perhaps I can learn something, you never know when it might come in handy" I said. Which made a smile return to her face, she looked at the clock, "Two more minutes until the party starts" she said while slumping into one of the lounge chairs.

"I guess you are not looking forward to it?" she looked at me with a seriously annoyed side eye "Would you like to be questioned about your life every day?" Gauging me for my reaction I thought about it _No, I would absolutely hate it, it would drive me mad._ "Good evening Miss Daemon, are you on?" A technical cracking voice came through the headset. "Good evening Eloise" I heard Liliana, now Christine say. "Christine darling, how are doing" the voice on the phone seeping with fakeness. I saw Liliana role her eyes before she answered "I'm very well Eloise, and you? Everything alright at work?" I chuckled, she definitely hated this. Liliana bent over to me, I froze staring at her eyes, those soft pink lips... She lifted her hand to my right ear, pushing a button on my headset. "you are now muted from the conversation" a metallic voice told me. Liliana grinned as I was still staring at her _too close, way too close_ I ripped my eyes off her. "I'm sorry Eloise I am afraid my cat just tried to behead my headset" Liliana said over the phone. That's when I knew for sure I was turning tomato red. She smirked at me and continued her conversation with Eloise.

* * *

I looked over at Erik, as I silently yawned, the clock displayed it was now ten-thirty and I was ready to sleep for a couple of hours, if I could get some... "I think we have everything Christine, your interview will be in our magazine this week" I smiled "That's awesome Eloise, thanks for your time!" on which she replied with a standard "No thank you, we will talk soon!" I cocked my head in annoyance, off course I had to talk to her again soon…. "Looking forward to it! Bye Eloise" As we said our goodbyes I saw Erik's chest rumble, he was enjoying this! I pushed the button that would end the conversation and lifted myself from the chair.

"You were having a good time" I said to him slightly annoyed by his amusement "You could be a high paid actress" he said with a smirk. I laughed, it was true, these phone calls were nothing more than me trying to please the reporters on the other side of the line. It was all just one big play, I had no problem admitting that, hell I was even annoyed by it. I didn't like this part of the job, I'd rather avoid the whole scenario but unfortunately it had to happen and so almost every day I dealt with the blood suckers. That's the nickname I had given them, as they seriously sucked the life out of you.

I stretched my back, boy I was not going to waste any time, ten minutes tops and I would be in bed. I turned to face Erik "So I am afraid I have to equally uncomfortable options for you" I blushed slightly, we could of course share the bed, but the thought of that happening made me blush so much that I pushed it far away, besides only people in relationships should share a bed and I blushed even more at the thought of a relationship.

"The lounge chairs in here, or the couch in the office?" He finished my sentence. I gave him a faint half smile "I'm afraid those are them, indeed" I said. He shrugged his shoulders "I have had worse, would you mind if I prefer the chairs over the couches, those things are rock hard….. How could you pick something like that?" He looked at me like I was crazy, "Ask Jake" I was shaking with laughter "I told him the same thing after two days of refuge in this building" I said while walking over to the small cabinet. "I do have a spare pillow and some blankets in here" as I pulled out both from their designated shelves. "I'm afraid that is all I can offer in luxurious office camping equipment" I stood in front of him now, he reached out to accept them, as he looked down at me.

It hit me then, he was sleeping in the same room as me and I pulled back my arms with lighting speed. "I'm going to brush my teeth…." I turned around quickly, grabbing my PJs from the bed not looking back at him as I was still thinking about us being in the same room.

I quickly brushed my teeth and slathered my face with night cream, and the stupid bags repellent from Raoul, which I knew was already a lost cause but I did it anyway. Looking at my reflection in the mirror I blushed, I was looking like a scarecrow, my hair sticking out to all directions. I withdrew my brush from the drawer it occupied and tried to tame my frightening locks, after brushing them for way too long I could no longer procrastinate avoiding him.

I sighed and put the brush away and walked over to the door when I started contemplating sleeping in the bathtub instead. Shaking my head at the idea I threw open the door, Erik had set the two chairs directly opposite off each other, while sitting with his face towards the steel door. When he heard the swooshing sound of the door he turned around "Nice Pjs" I looked down, I had quickly swapped my robe for my standard PJs, a dark green ensemble of shorts and a t-shirt which were both covered with tiny doe's, which appeared to be running around the fabric like a recurring pattern.

I blushed, they are so childish! But they were the only pair that I had lying around! "Thanks…" I walked passed him towards the bed. "Bathroom is all yours…" I said while fluffing up my pillow and pulling back the covers "Ok, I won't take long" he said while moving towards the bathroom door. I noticed he was still wearing his suit "You don't have anything to sleep in?" He looked down at his clothes, I couldn't imagine his suit being very comfortable to sleep in, but as he seemed to be living in them perhaps he could have gotten adjusted to the fabric. "I am afraid that I did not pack that sort of attire in my survival kit, I guess one learns while being on the job" I simply nodded.

As he disappeared into the bathroom, I wondered what it was like to live like that. Never knowing if you were in danger, always on the move, never really having a home. I wondered how his family would feel about the life he was living, I cannot imagine the thought of having a loved one on the line between life and death all the time. It must be horrible to know that he is out there and you never know if you will see him again. I shuddered "Are you cold?" while I was stuck in my own mind I hadn't heard Erik come out of the bathroom again and he was now looking at me with a worried look on his face. I felt my face burn up "No, no, I'm fine" I quickly moved to slide completely under the covers of my bed _you idiot_ I scolded myself.

"Are you sure you are alright? You are not getting sick are you?" I turned towards his voice and my heart stopped beating. He was hanging over me with a worried look on his face, trying to decipher if there was something wrong with me. Gaping at him I tried to figure out what to say, still lost in his emerald green eyes.

I opened my mouth to say something but he softly placed his palm against my forehead so unable to say anything I shut it again. "You don't seem to be burning up" he mumbled. "Are you sure you are alright?" Still unable to speak I just nodded my head, and luckily for me he walked over to the chairs.

"Goodnight Liliana" and he switched off the light and I mumbled "Night Erik"

* * *

 _I was back in the car, my dad was laughing and singing along with a song that played on the radio. I happily sang along to the melody as we continued driving down the road. I must have been 15 at the time, I was wearing my guns and roses t-shirt, jeans and sneakers and my bright blue back pack was shoved between my legs. I just sang the chorus of sweet child of mine when we turned a corner and we were hit, head on. There was this mix of screeching tires, glass falling down making a tinkling sound all around us, metal that moaned as it bended in an unknown form and blood, so much blood. Eventually all sounds stopped, the movement stopped, life temporarily stopped, my dad had stopped. "Dad?" I called out his name yet his face was motionless, "Dad" something in my head was hurting so badly. I tried calling his name so many times, why did he not hear me? "Dad...Dad wake up...Dad please..."_

* * *

"Dad" I opened my eyes, I had gotten used to sleeping with one eye open so to speak. "Dad...wake up" I could recognize that voice from any where. She was talking in her sleep again, she had done that when she fell asleep next to me in the tree house that we had built in the woods when we were little. I frowned as she mumbled again, she was squirming beneath the sheets, her face frowning. I rose from my 'bed' and walked over to sit beside her placing a hand on her shoulder I tried to soothe her so she would hopefully dream peacefully once more.

But my actions were in vain as she started to mumble even louder, while almost kicking her feet towards some evil. "Dad... please...dad...wake up" her voice breaking. I figured she was dreaming about the accident, she was 15 at the time and they were driving towards an audition, so she might star in a musical. However their journey was cut short as a drunk driver in a van had smashed into them head on, killing her dad on impact. But she... I closed my eyes and hung my head low. She had been trapped in there for more than half an hour... And that bastard, that bloody bastard, the drunk driver got away... They never found him...

I remember the sirens in the street, how her mom had been escorted by the police and the never ending days in the hospital. I had stayed by her side until that fateful day that Anne had told me they needed to move so that Lily could receive the treatment that she needed. She hadn't even woken up at that time, she had been comatose for months on end, I hadn't even had the chance to say goodbye... Well I did, but I had never told her, it was a secret I had kept close to my heart. As a young man, being only 18, I hadn't had the nerve to tell her that I loved her. I was such a coward back than... _you still are..._ and I huffed at myself.

It was true though, as Anne had walked away to talk with the doctors I had taken my chance and had declared my love for her. Whispered my confession in her ear while stroking her cheek, and that's when I had stolen her lips, claiming them for my own. A brief, brush of that angel's lips against my own, a mere second, drowning her with my tears, and I had never looked back. I had walked out the door, finished my high school the next month and had joined the army, got promotion after promotion until I was picked for the special forces. All the while with I had had her on my mind, she haunted me like a part of my brain was just claimed by her presence. Her face, that tinkling laugh, those eyes, lips, her luscious thick hair...

I thought of her, every battle I entered she was on my mind, was she fighting too? Did she remember me? Could she? I never dared to contact Anne though, I never knew what I was afraid of... Rejection? All in all I just never had the courage and my face, this cursed complexion did not help for that matter. After I had received facial reconstruction after that explosion, that fateful battle in Afghanistan... I simply had been to close, that's what the surgeon had said as she had removed the shrapnel from my face. After that reconstruction I didn't even dare to look into the mirror, I was horrified by my reflection, the scars being bright red... I was declared unfit for duty, so I had to try and earn my income in a different way. A connection in my network had than suggested becoming a body guard as my skills from my previous profession would help me out a great deal in that field.

I had contemplated it for a long time, but two years ago I had decided to follow his advice and had since been protecting a broad range of important people. As I kept my high clearance level from the government as I had protected some upper members of the command chain, I had tried to follow Lily everywhere she went. I was able to see, read and follow her life, from the accident on wards. I learned that she had had to rehabilitate for more than two years and after that she had to go special private institutions to cope with everything, the fact that she still could not walk, the fainting spells, the pain in her head, the loss of her father but most of all the loss of her memory. The only memory she had left was of the actual accident, anything before that was gone, I had found that out from her physic evaluations. So after five years, when she turned twenty she was able to do everything again, she had lost five years to that garbage can of an idiot driver.

I now understood why she was still completing high school after so long, she had to keep up a fake life in which she followed a special program which allowed her to break up the last three years of her high school and spread them over a five year period. She didn't need to as she was smart, an A plus all round student, yet she had to, as she needed the extra time to be Christine, completing her school at twenty five... In five months to be exact.

When Anne had put out the advert for a personal body guard for her daughter I had contemplated it for weeks, I wanted to see her so badly... Yet this face... she wouldn't remember who I was... Was she still the Lily I had known for so long, I had to stop calling her Lily, she was now Liliana again. Not the love of my life Lily... She had died on December 13 2004... I had scolded myself many times, stay out of her life, you have no right to interfere... Yet two days after I had completed my latest assignment I found myself in front of her house ready to be interviewed by Anne.

Anne... She hadn't even recognized me, or my name for that fact, as my first had stayed the same, yet I had changed my last as I no longer wanted to be tied to the special forces Erik, the Erik with a normal face... that man had died in Afghanistan... A long time ago...

Another mumble pulled me back to reality "DAD" and she moved her arms as she gripped the cover tightly "No...no...don't...dad...please...NO!" she gasped for air as she opened her eyes and sat upright in a jolt. She looked around frightened as her breath started to sound like panicked huffs "It's alright Liliana" I tried to shush her "He's...He's...was...blood" she looked at me with big frightened eyes "There was so, so much blood...Erik...he's...he's..." She started sobbing and in a reflex I embraced her, gently rubbing her back and stroking her hair, as she continued sobbing into my chest, clutching my shirt as if she was afraid I would vanish into thin air.

But I wouldn't, not again. _I_ _will never leave you again Lily..._


End file.
